Tag Archive for Los Angeles

Metro reneges on pledge to complete LA River path by ’28, and life is cheap for Ethan Boyes in San Francisco’s Presidio

March 21, 2024 / / Comments Off on Metro reneges on pledge to complete LA River path by ’28, and life is cheap for Ethan Boyes in San Francisco’s Presidio
Just 285 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re still stuck at 1,018 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Actual image of Metro executive promising to complete LA River bike path, by Schwerdhöfer for Pixabay.

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It’s now 92 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

No bias here. A Toronto bike lawyer suddenly had his mic cut after asking a city counselor to denounce anti-bicyclist comments made at a recent public forum that had devolved into a war of words, with one commenter threatening to run over any bike riders that get in his way.

No bias here, either. A UK petition calling for bicyclists to “display registration, pay road tax and have insurance” has closed after drawing just 353 signatures in six months.

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Local 

Investing in Place considers the implications of LA’s newly approved Measure HLA, and what needs to be done to prevent implantation from devolving into a chaotic mess, and leaving already underserved communities behind.

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, is looking for volunteers to help with next month’s Finish the Ride and Finish the Run in Griffith Park.

Metro is offering a new and improved on-demand process to rent their new and improved electronic bike lockers.

West Hollywood approved a Complete Streets makeover for Willoughby Ave, as well as parts of Gardner Street, Vista Street and Kings Road, replacing the existing sharrows with curb extensions, scaled traffic circles, protected bike lanes, wayfinding signs, a mini-park, and enhanced crosswalks near schools.

Pasadena wants your input on a proposal for quick-build Complete Streets improvements along Allen Ave to improve access to the Metro A Line Station, and connect to existing bike lanes on the city’s north side.

Santa Monica cops will conduct yet another Bike & Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operation on Saturday, ticketing any driver, bicyclist or pedestrian who commits a traffic violation that could endanger anyone on two wheels or two feet. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits so you’re not the one who gets written up.

 

State

More on the Encinitas bicyclists calling for removal of a curb-protected bike lane on the coast highway, after a 48-year old man was found dead next to his cruiser bike early Sunday morning, even though there is no indication yet that the barriers played any role in his solo crash; Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette says the rash of bike crashes since the lanes were installed may be an argument to remove those barriers, but not all protected bike lanes.

A Palo Alto website says a proposal by Caltrans to install green bike lanes on busy El Camino Real is the wrong way to go, because it would encourage bicyclists to ride on a busy street interrupted with frequent entrances and exits, and other “ingress and egress interruptions.” Or is it just that only drivers deserve safe, direct routes to wherever they happen to be going?

 

National

Bicycling reports Strava is now giving you even more data to obsess over. Or you could just, you know, enjoy riding your bike, instead. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you. 

Cycling Weekly says forget Amazon’s Big Spring Sale if you’re looking for good deals on quality bikewear, although you can find some deals on bike tech.

Bike Portland says a whopping 94.5% of women and non-binary bicyclists responding to a recent survey reported some form of traumatic harassment while riding on the streets. Which should be astonishing, but sadly isn’t. 

A Montana man says he hated ebikes, but using one to go elk hunting changed his mind. Although I suspect the elk might have a different opinion.

 

International

Cyclist considers the best titanium road and gravel bikes, as prices for Ti bikes continue to drop, while simultaneously going pretty damn far in the other direction, too.

Strong Towns examines how cold, hilly Montreal became a year-round bicycling success story.

With a timeline only Los Angeles could envy, Edinburgh, Scotland officially opened the city’s longest bike lane after a ten-year process, with a local councilor complaining that contractors had made a “pigs ear” of the installation work.

Manchester, England bike advocates are calling for the removal of new barriers recently installed to keep “antisocial motorcyclists” off a bridge forming part of the UK’s National Cycle Network, warning that the “unlawful, discriminatory” barriers would block access to anyone with a disability.

New hiking and biking trains will roll out of Prague to take bike riders and hikers to trails throughout the Czech countryside.

After nearly 60 years of riding, a 70-year old Gibraltar man calls for more bike lanes, as well as stricter regulation of e-scooters.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could have an electronic crankset with an automatic transmission, and no chain or belt drive. That feeling when a groundbreaking rock opera becomes a Broadway musical because you fell off your bike.

And who needs a mountain when you’ve got an e-mountain bike in DTLA?

……... 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

California ignores bikes while failing to meet climate goals, and San Francisco utility offers $1,000 ebike vouchers

March 20, 2024 / / Comments Off on California ignores bikes while failing to meet climate goals, and San Francisco utility offers $1,000 ebike vouchers
Just 286 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,018 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Meanwhile, UCLA is hosting a City-Wide Community Safety Listening Session Event tonight. Which is a good opportunity to demand safer streets, and call for a public meeting with the mayor. 

Photo by Maxfoot from Pixabay.

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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 self-described “anti-cyclist cyclist” tells his fellow bike riders to just stay in their lane, stop filming lawbreaking drivers, and get other bike riders to clean up their act and stop breaking traffic laws. Because evidently, you’re somehow responsible for the bad behavior of people you’ve never met, as long as they ride bikes. 

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

Over 100 people riding bicycles and motor scooters took over a Boston freeway where bikes are expressly banned on Sunday, forcing drivers to crawl around them as the popped wheelies and swerved in between cars.

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Local 

West Hollywood gave Bird the bird, ending its contract with the e-scooter provider at the end of this month, and leaving Lime the only dockless scooter provider in the city.

Nineteen-year old Panorama City resident Daniel Antonio Garcia has been arrested for the hit-and-run crash that killed 44-year old David Rodriguez in Arleta last August; Garcia was allegedly speeding when he veered right to go around another vehicle, and slammed into Rodriguez’ bike.

Hats off to the Video Production students at Los Alamitos High School, who made a video to help a fellow classmate with cerebral palsy win a new adaptive bike.

Forget ebike vouchers. Long Beach will now allow residents to check out an ebike for up to three months from the city’s new ebike lending library.

 

State

Some San Diego County bike advocates are demanding changes to the curb-protected bike lane on the South Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas, where Encinitas resident Ryan Currie was found dead after apparently crashing his bike.

A school principal in a disadvantaged South Sacramento neighborhood is calling on people to donate bikes to the school so students can bike to school to attend classes more regularly.

 

National

Escape Collective takes a deep dive into why modern performance bikes are so damned expensive.

PeopleForBikes wants to have a say new federal rules proposed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to address ebike injury risks.

Samuel J. Mancini, the former CEO of bicycling brand investors Outdoor Capital Partners, will spend the next 71 months behind bars in a Colorado federal prison, as well as paying $10.5 million in restitution, after being convicted of scamming investors in a Ponzi-like scheme.

A South Dakota orthopedic sports medicine doctor bikes the five-mile daily commute to his office, except for days when he rides the 65-mile commute to his outreach clinic in Sioux Center, Iowa — or 150 miles each way to a clinic in Sioux Falls.

He gets it. US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg opened a new bike path along Rhode Island’s Woonasquatucket River, saying projects that build dedicated lanes for bicyclists are essential to expanding transportation options for commuters.

New York has launched a new ebike safety campaign, telling ebike riders to “Get Smart Before You Start.” Because they apparently assume that a not-very catchy and pretty damn meaningless slogan will somehow cut the city’s rising rate of ebike deaths, even though most occurred on streets without bicycle infrastructure. 

 

International

Fifty-one percent of people on the planet commute by car every day.

The Standard considers the rise of bike cam-equipped vigilante bicyclists targeting London’s lawbreaking drivers.

A trio of British men received sentences of six-and-a-half years, ten years and 25 years behind bars for the fatal stabbing of a man in a dispute over the victim’s stolen ebike. As we’ve said many times before, no bike is worth your life. Or anyone else’s.

Sad news from New Zealand, where business and climate journalist and commentator Rod Oram died when he suffered a heart attack after crashing his bicycle; he was 73.

 

Competitive Cycling

Road Bike Rider talks with ultra-endurance cyclist Leah Goldstein, who demolished the competition to become the first woman to win the Race Across America’s solo division in 2021.

British Olympic legend Laura Kenny announced her retirement after winning five Olympic golds, seven European titles and 14 World Championships in her 13 year career.

 

Finally…

When you’re riding a bicycle with a stolen gun tucked into your waistband, stop for the damn stop sign, already. Who needs a bull for a bullfight when you can just mount horns on your handlebars?

And how to take that big step from a balance bike to a pedal bike.

Which hopefully you’ve done by now.

……... 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Grossman accused of illegal conduct and jury tampering, and bike-riding woman critical after Oceanside hit-and-run

March 19, 2024 / / Comments Off on Grossman accused of illegal conduct and jury tampering, and bike-riding woman critical after Oceanside hit-and-run
Just 287 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,018 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

………

Please forgive yesterday’s unexcused absence.

After a crowded weekend trying to wrangle a wild corgi with a torn rotator cuff — me, not the corgi —  and my lower back way out of whack, while my blood sugar inexplicably circled the drain all weekend, I just had nothing left to give, barely managing to write about Sunday’s fallen bicyclist in Encinitas. 

Then again, it’s not a lot of fun to try to type with a torn rotator cuff, either, as the damn thing keeps reminding me. 

Regardless, we have a lot to catch up on, so let’s get to it. And please forgive me if I don’t credit you for something you sent me, after losing track of things over the weekend. 

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

No bias here. A Cambridge, Massachusetts member of the deceptively named Cambridge Streets For All group — which is unaffiliated with the LA group by the same name — says no, the city’s bike lanes don’t work. Even though a recent study showed the bike lanes were very effective, and her pro-motorist group has lost a series of law suits attempting to prevent the bike lanes or have them removed.

No bias here, either. In a story locked away behind the paper’s paywall, a writer for London’s Telegraph somehow insists that bicyclists have turned Paris into hell on Earth, arguing that it is being ruined by bike lanes, ebikes and the nastiest cycling culture in the world. Because evidently, she liked it better when the streets were choked with cars and smog, and it wasn’t safe to cross the street with your baguettes. 

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

Cops in Boca Raton, Florida busted a pair of masked juvenile bicycle riders who were allegedly menacing motorists by weaving in and out of traffic, after one of the group crashed into a police car.

The singer Pink is one of us, as she rides through the streets of Sydney, Australia with husband Corey Hart. Although all anyone seems to care about was her lack of a helmet, in violation of Aussie laws.

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Local 

Streetsblog lists the LA-area projects funded by the federal Reconnecting Communities program, which will remove barriers and improve first mile/last mile bike and walk facilities to reconnect communities divided by highway projects, which usually went through low-income areas and communities of color.

Pasadena nonprofit Day One is distributing some of the 5,000 bicycles abandoned on Metro buses and trains every year to residents of Pasadena, Pomona, and El Monte through the free Metro Adopt a Bike Program. At least I remembered my friend Tim Rutt found this one. 

626 Golden Streets will return to the San Gabriel Valley at the end of next month, as Active Streets Mission-to-Mission connects the Mission Districts of Alhambra, San Gabriel and South Pasadena through five miles of carfree streets.

Spectrum News 1 looks at what’s new on PCH, where residents are finally demanding safety improvements after 59 people have been killed on the Malibu section of SoCal’s bloodiest highway since 2010, despite fighting them for years. Short answer, not enough. 

Santa Monica’s Complete Streets project on 17th Street and Michigan Ave was recognized by the League of California Cities as the winner of their 2024 Local Streets and Roads Project Award, Complete Streets award. Does that mean local residents will stop complaining about it now?

A greenbelt along the 91 Freeway in North Long Beach’s Hamilton neighborhood received a $1.2 million federal grant; the Hamilton Loop will include parks, and a walking path and bike lanes, along with other features.

 

State

Calbike celebrates the passage of HLA, while noting that five of the eight “bike champions” they endorsed will make the fall election.

Sad news from Auburn, where a 60-year old woman was killed when she was struck by a truck driver in Placer County just outside the city, while riding with another person. Or maybe she was 70.

 

National

Streetsblog explains how and why to start an ebike lending library. The why is easy — because people are growing old waiting for California’s ebike voucher program to finally launch so they can buy one. 

A travel website selects the country’s most bike-friendly towns for retirees; California’s Solano Beach, Arcata and Pismo Beach make the list that was topped by Walker, Minnesota, despite the high rents in the two California beach towns.

The Texas Department of Transportation launched a new traffic safety campaign urging bike riders and drivers to “Be Safe. Drive Smart.” Because we all know that all it really takes to end traffic violence is a not-so-catchy slogan.

Proving that Iowa is more than just corn, a new nine-mile bike trail will connect two existing trails to create a continuous, 120-mile loop through the state.

Heartbreaking story of a Chicago mother trying to get justice for her 16-year old son after he was killed by a suspected stoned driver while riding his bike; a Twitter/X thread from Bike Lane Uprising recounts efforts to help when the mom didn’t even have a lawyer.

Sad news from New York, where a 31-year old man riding an ebike was killed when he was run over by the driver of a postal truck after allegedly falling, although residents pointed to a human-shaped dent in a parked SUV as evidence the victim was actually pinned by the driver between the two vehicles.

New York-based urban tech accelerator URBAN-X apparently thinks the future rolls on two wheels, selecting seven companies focused on advancing electric mobility and two-wheeled transportation for their latest project, on the assumption that ebikes will take a more prominent role in transportation.

A New York council member says a planned bike lane is stuck in community engagement purgatory. Proving that Los Angeles isn’t the only major city with an interminable community engagement process, even if it seems like it.

 

International

Momentum celebrates the beauty of upright bikes, while GCN answers the burning question of whether you’re better off buying a new $600 bike or a $600 used bike.

They get it. Cycling Weekly says leave the bike computer at home, and just absorb the world and let your mind wander.

Worcester, England is revoking a ban on bikes in the city center, as council members call it unnecessary and ineffective, and more a reflection of political theater than traffic safety.

This is what it looks like when an ebike battery explodes into a fireball in a London apartment.

BBC host Mollie King, who doubles as lead singer of Brit girl group The Saturdays, raised the equivalent of $1.4 million for Comic Relief with her 310-mile bike ride across the UK in honor of her father, who died from a brain tumor.

A 49-year old British woman faces possible jail time after she was convicted of manslaughter for yelling at a 77-year old woman to stop riding her bike on the sidewalk; the victim then veered off the sidewalk into the street, where she was struck and killed by an oncoming driver.

Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan is one of us, confusing fans by riding his bicycle just one day after buying a new Range Rover for the equivalent of over $700,000.

Forget carbon. Your next handcrafted Japanese bike could be made of wood.

Kiwi bicyclists went “starkers,” or close to it, to call attention to body positivity, bike safety and the environment in the New Zealand edition of the World Naked Bike Ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

UCI has officially blessed Giro’s weird-ass time trial helmets made for the Visma-Lease A Bike cycling team.

Belgian Jasper Philipsen won the Milan-San Remo in a photo-finish Saturday, throwing his bike ahead of Aussie Michael Matthews and Tadej Pogacar for a razor-thing victory.

Former Italian pro and 2021 Paris-Roubaix winner Sonny Colbrelli was credited with foiling bike thieves attempting to steal the bikes belonging to the Bahrain-Victorius cycling team as they slept in their hotel on the even of Milan-San Remo. The team, that is, not the bike thieves. Or the bikes.

America’s greatest ex-Tour de France winner relates how he suffered PTSD after having all seven Tour wins stripped away, losing his prize money and agreeing to pay the US government $5 million for cheating on their watch as leader of the US Postal cycling team; Lance says he had to check himself in for an intensive, five day treatment program that had him on the shrink’s couch for ten hours a day. If he felt that bad, just imagine how the people he bullied for all those years must have felt. And yet he still won’t just go away, already. 

Meanwhile, cycling fans ridicule Lance’s recent comments that bicyclists don’t compete like they used to back in the good ol’ days when he was still doping. Uh, racing.

Bicycling reports that Germany’s Canyon Bicycles has signed Dutch cross-discipline cyclist Mathieu van der Poel to a “staggering” ten-year deal. Although maybe they should ask Trek how that worked out with Lance. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Sad news from Belgium, where 24-year old cyclist Jonas Bresseleers, a former teammate of Remco Evenepoel, was killed when he was struck by a truck driver while riding his bike; Bresseleers survived another disastrous collision five years earlier when a group of riders were sent the wrong way during a race, and he and two other cyclists were struck by a driver, resulting in the death of his teammate and friend Stef Loos.

 

Finally…

The pope wants to sell you his Pinarello. Why worry about bike parking at the end of your ride, when you can just take your own bike rack with you?

And that feeling when you have to crowdfund your own bike lane sweeper because the city won’t clean them — and the local paper makes it seem like a good thing.

……... 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Feeling suckered by CA ebike voucher program, CD4’s Raman wins re-election, and why people keep dying on the streets

March 15, 2024 / / Comments Off on Feeling suckered by CA ebike voucher program, CD4’s Raman wins re-election, and why people keep dying on the streets
Just 291 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,017 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Photo by Max J from Pexels.

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Let’s start with a look at California’s virtually moribund ebike incentive program, and its ongoing failure to launch.

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

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a woman is demanding action after police determine there’s “not enough detail” to charge a hit-and-run bus driver who just drove off after knocking her off her bike.

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

London’s Telegraph complains that the city is building more floating bus stops, even though some bicyclists don’t stop for pedestrians like they’re supposed to. Seriously, don’t do that. It only takes a few seconds to observe the right-of-way, and let pedestrians pass.

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Local 

Alhambra’s city council unanimously approved a new bike and pedestrian plan, which was delayed for two months to get more community input. Although as we’ve learned the hard way, getting a plan approved is meaningless unless it’s actually funded and implemented, regardless of apparent support.

A paraplegic Palmdale man says riding a handcycle in Sunday’s Los Angeles Marathon fulfills his wildest dream.

LA County will spend $250 million to widen the Old Road in Stevenson Ranch to six lanes, while adding a protected bike lane in each direction. It costs an average of $1 million a mile to build a protected bike lane, which means they could build ten miles of protected lanes on both sides of the roadway, and still return $230 million change.

Santa Monica once again learned the hard way that free parking isn’t free; it cost the city $26,000 in lost revenue to provide free parking in city lots the last three days before Christmas, which resulted in exactly no benefit to local businesses.

Speaking of SaMo, the city is encouraging bicyclists to register their bikes through Bike Index or Garage 529 before May’s National Bike Month; you can sign up for lifetime free registration with Bike Index right here, as well as report a stolen bike or check their nationwide stolen bike registry. Full disclosure, I don’t get a damn thing for hosting Bike Index on this site, aside from the satisfaction of helping thwart bike thieves.

 

State

Survivors of a fallen Bakersfield bike rider filed a claim against the county, alleging dangerous conditions on the roadway where she was killed by a driver last year, including inadequate lighting, traffic signals and signage.

San Mateo bicyclists and traffic safety advocates are demanding answers after a hit-and-run driver left a bike-riding 62-year old woman with a broken back.

 

National

A new AI-powered device promises to use “computer vision” to alert bike riders to cars and other dangers on the roadway. So they expect us to rely on the same technology that draws people with three legs, and makes up various “facts.”

He gets it. Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus says the reason more people aren’t biking is too many cars, with too many driven without regard for others.

Now this is a bike travel guide, as a Boulder CO weekly offers tips on where to stop for food and drinks on your next long-distance ride.

Denver promises to plow bike lanes, as the city prepares to get up to 20 inches of snow, though bike riders are warned they may have to share traffic lanes with motorists. And yet, we’re somehow told that no one will ride a bike during LA’s temperate winters. 

Kindhearted Indiana cops gave a new bike to a 12-year old boy whose bike was destroyed when he was hit by a bus; fortunately, he wasn’t hurt.

That’s more like it. A bill in the Vermont legislature will give bike riders priority at intersections and require a four-foot passing distance.

New York Streetsblog celebrates the new Citi Bike bikeshare dock at the former Shea Stadium, now Citi Field, allowing bikeshare users to ride to a Mets game. But then you’d have to actually watch them play, so hard pass. 

A $9.6 million federal grant will fund a nearly nine-mile bike and pedestrian path between two Mississippi towns, as part of a project to widen US 90 from four to six lanes. So call it a win-lose for the environment and induced-demand. 

 

International

Canadian Cycling Magazine argues there should be tax incentives to buy and ride a bicycle. There should be some on this side of the border, too.

A BBC radio host is riding the “staggering distance” of 500 km across the country — the equivalent of 310 miles — to raise funds for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day. Or as randonneurs call a distance like that, Tuesday.

Bike-riding BBC host Jeremy Vine is suing a former Man City soccer player for calling him a “bike nonce.” Which I might find offensive, too, if I knew what the hell it meant.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly tips two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar to win Saturday’s Milan-San Remo, the longest one-day race in pro cycling.

The UCI Ethics Commission fined Soudal Quick-Step team boss Patrick Lefevere for making disparaging comments about women, including suggesting that women drink too much, and that many female pros aren’t worth pro cycling’s current minimum wage.

 

Finally…

This is what it looks like when unloved bicycles are left to die alone. Just let the billionaires pay for a pod to change out of your sweaty clothes after a bike commute.

And that feeling when you promise to ride a bike to see your friends, after getting busted for driving an uninsured vehicle with an expired driver’s license.

At 103 years old.

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Measure HLA maintains lead with 2/3 support, the world’s coolest streets, and misdemeanor charges in AZ massacre

March 14, 2024 / / Comments Off on Measure HLA maintains lead with 2/3 support, the world’s coolest streets, and misdemeanor charges in AZ massacre
Just 292 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,016 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

………

Before we start, let’s all welcome Beverly Hills Bike Law, the newest advertiser on here. 

So take a moment to click on the ad over there and check out their site, and let ’em see attention advertising here will get them. 

Then tell your favorite local bike shop, so maybe they’ll get the message, too. 

………

It’s now 85 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

This is why people keep dying on the streets. A British driver walked without a single day behind bars after parking in a bike lane, then backing into a man on a bicycle — and accusing the bike rider of trying to “break” his car by slapping his trunk as a warning.

………

Local 

Politico considers the hurdles LA will have to surmount to fulfill its ambitious climate claims for the 2028 Olympics. Getting a jump on building the bus and bike infrastructure required under HLA would go a long way towards getting there.

Westside Congressman Ted Lieu pats himself on the back for securing $2 million for a trio of Santa Monica projects, including a half million for safety enhancement along the Lincoln Blvd corridor, which won’t include bike lanes.

 

State

Calbike says hundreds attended their online seminar with San Francisco State Senator Scott Wiener, who discussed SB 960, the Complete Streets Bill currently under consideration in the state legislature.

 

National

A new AAA study suggests drowsy driving deaths may be ten times more common than official stats show, contributing to nearly 18 percent of fatal crashes between 2017 and 2021.

U.S. News & World Report somehow still exist, and ranks the year’s best balance bikes for your favorite wannabe bicycling toddler.

A Bellingham, Washington paper rides along with the city’s underground network of “recovery artists” who track down stolen bikes.

A new study from my bike-friendly Colorado hometown shows that when the city installed parking spaces for dockless bikeshare bikes and e-scooters, and imposed penalties for improper parking, scooters and bikes blocking sidewalks dropped by 12%.

Contrasting with the recent dire predictions from Los Angeles firefighters about Measure HLA, the Chicago Fire Department says new bike lanes haven’t caused any problems, while the improved safety means there will be less need for emergency response.

Houston has followed the deadly record-setting trends set by Los Angeles and New York, as traffic deaths in America’s 4th largest city hit a ten-year high.

Vermont has opened the nation’s first fully adaptive, off-road ebike trail system.

 

International

Bicyclists around the world will ride for Palestine this Saturday. Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces admitted to an oopsie when they bombed the shit out of two Palestinian men wheeling a bicycle, which they somehow mistook for a rocket-propelled grenade. Because lots of rocket-propelled grenades have handlebars and pedals, evidently.

An editor for Cyclist says there’s no point in being a weight weenie, taking the contrarian view that bike weight doesn’t matter. I never thought so when I kept up with bicyclists on high-end bikes while riding my old steel-framed Trek.  But changed my mind when I started dropping them after switching to a much lighter and faster LeMond. 

Oxford, England is accused of being anti-car, as the city council considers a proposal to increase parking charges for heavier and more polluting vehicles, following the lead of Paris, which voted last month to triple parking fees for SUVs.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A “gifted” Welsh dressage rider was killed in a collision while training for a triathlon on her bike; the driver was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

Momentum visits the Netherlands stunning new Ede-Wageningen train station, offering secure parking for 5,000 bicycles.

Momentum discusses what we touched on yesterday, as the Paris Olympics will showcase what a real bicycling city looks like — never mind that it wasn’t one just a few short years ago. Let’s just hope LA Mayor Bass is paying attention on her trip over there right now. 

Velo says the Taipei Cycle Show demonstrates that despite the doom and gloom in the bike industry, it’s really just a changing of the guard.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — South Korea’s “heart-pounding” Seorak Granfondo, described as a “thrilling journey through some of the most captivating terrain Asia has to offer…against the backdrop of the stunning Seoraksan National Park.”

Former Aussie pro cyclist Rohan Dennis will remain out on bail through August, after prosecutors requested time to reconstruct the crash that killed his wife, Olympic gold medalist and former world champ Melissa Hoskins.

 

Competitive Cycling

Organizers have canceled Japan’s UCI-sanctioned Tour de Hokkaido bicycle race, after a 21-year old cyclist was killed in a head-on collision when a driver somehow entered the course during last year’s race.

Australia’s national cycling team plans to compete riding Factor Bike’s $98,000 Hanzo track bike, in hopes that its advanced aerodynamics will lead to Olympic gold in August.

Canadian Cycling Magazine offers a quick lesson in French cycling terms.

The head of Ghana’s Cycling Federation says that despite the recent comments from the country’s sports minister, they’ve received just two bikes for the national cycling team since 2012, leading to the country’s cyclists competing the Africa Games on their own well-worn training gear.

 

Finally…

There’s never been a better time to see the Northern Lights by bike. Who needs weapons when you can steal a bike with big a wooden log.

And bouncing back from a bicycling-induced broken collarbone may not be the best idea, after all.

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bass visits bike-friendly Paris, gets $900m for LA transportation; living in a state of happiness; and just another Florida oopsie

March 13, 2024 / / One comment
Just 293 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,013 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

Photo by Matteus Silva for Pexels. 

………

Fifteen years ago, then-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had his eyes opened when he visited Copenhagen, and saw how cities can thrive when they provide safe alternatives to driving.

Let’s hope current Mayor Karen Bass gets the same message on her pre-Olympic excursion to Paris, where Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been removing highways and building bike lanes to create a 15-minute city.

Bass will have plenty of money to spend on it, after the city secured nearly $900 million in federal funding for transportation and infrastructure projects ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

Although more than $700 million of that will go to rail projects.

But still. The other $200 million could go a long way towards fixing what ails LA.

………

It’s now 84 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. A London media personality questions who is at fault in a five-year old crash where a driver cut a corner and hit a bike rider waiting to turn head on — making who was really at fault glaringly obvious.

https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1766515138654306533

Police in Mumbai, India denied permission for bicycling groups to gather for a silent protest to draw attention to unsafe road conditions for bike riders and pedestrians, despite planning the rally for a spot designated for protests.

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

Authorities in Dublin, Ireland are looking for video evidence after a middle-aged woman was pushed off her bicycle by a “group of lads on bikes,” for no apparent reason.

………

Local 

The two leaders of the nation’s largest homeless rescue mission, Hope the Mission in North Hills, are on their way to DC on a 3,500-mile bike ride to advocate for homelessness programs.

Good news for Pasadena, where bike-friendly former city mayor, Los Angeles assistant mayor and Santa Monica city manager Rick Cole has been re-elected to the Pasadena city council, receiving just over 60% of the vote.

Speaking of Pasadena, the city’s police will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation on Friday, ticketing anyone who commits a traffic violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it; Santa Monica cops will also hold one on Thursday and Friday. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets written up and fined.

Streetsblog talks with South Bay-based writer Peter Flax, whose new book, Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle, offers a broad look at bike riding, with a common theme that bicyclists have to work together because strength comes from unity. And yes, I’ve ordered my copy.

 

State

This is who we share the road with. An unlicensed driver with four previous DUIs over the past decade hit and killed a pedestrian in Orange Tuesday morning, and was arrested after fleeing the scene and leading police on a short chase. And yes, he showed signs of intoxication as he was taken into custody. Which is what happens when authorities take someone’s license away, but let them keep their keys.

Caltrans will provide millions of dollars for a pilot program to build parks, bike lanes and other amenities to reconnect communities in southeastern San Diego and National City that were divided by the 805 Freeway; the program will also seek to reconnect similarly divided communities in Arcata and San Francisco.

A man suffered major injuries when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike in Palm Desert last night.

 

National

That’s more like it. An Oregon man got 12 years behind bars for killing a woman biking with two friends while under the influence, and in possession of controlled substances. Although it’s shameful that it took seven years for the victim to get justice. 

The horrific story of the Washington mountain biker attacked by a mountain lion gets even worse, with news that the 60-year old woman’s entire head was in the cougar’s mouth for a full 15 minutes before her companions managed to pin it down with a bike frame; a crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $75,000 for the victim.

They get it. The Baltimore Sun, which was recently purchased by the owner of a conservative media group, asks why bike lanes won’t work there, if they’re so successful in Cambridge, Massachusetts, even though the Baltimore bike plan has recently come under from residents and city leaders.

In news that will undoubtedly confound California officials, the District of Columbia will somehow managed to launch their new ebike voucher program next month, just seven months after it was approved by the city council. Which is 26 months less than California’s moribund program’s failure to launch has taken — and counting.

 

International

Momentum offers 33 reasons to start bike commuting this spring, ranging from reducing your carbon footprint to getting some alone time while connecting to your community. Although they forgot to mention that it’s a lot more fun than driving, too. 

British Columbia will invest $50 million in active transportation projects over the next three years.

He gets it. A Toronto columnist questions why the city is cutting funding for safe streets, when it just experienced the deadliest month for bike riders and pedestrians since the heady days before the pandemic.

The Dutch Cycling Embassy explains how fire trucks and bike lanes can peacefully co-exist, despite the largely debunked belief that they slow response times and limit the ability to respond to emergencies.

An Austrian tech company is training AI to enable smart bicycles to analyze their surroundings. On the other hand, would you want to trust your safety to a technology that draws people with three legs, and gets lawyers sanctioned by making up legal precedents?

Dubai opened two new separated cycle tracks in the residential communities of Al Khawaneej and Mushrif, part of the emirate’s goal of building 1,000 km — 621 miles — of bike paths by 2030.

Here’s your chance to mountain bike the Serengeti this fall, while you help fight poaching.

Bike Radar highlights eight weird and wonderful road, gravel and urban bikes from the Taipei Cycle Show.

Police in Australia are revisiting the seven-year old cold case shooting of a 72-year old man, who was shot multiple times in the head and chest by a man who got out of a parked car to fire at him as he rode his motorized bicycle on a rail trail; he somehow survived, but even a half-million dollar reward hasn’t been enough to solve the case.

An Aussie professor says subsidizing micromobility-share programs can benefit people on low incomes or with disabilities.

 

Competitive Cycling

Pro cycling gets its kicks from caffeine.

Ghana’s Sports Minister blamed the country’s Cycling Federation for the national team’s equipment fiasco at the Africa Games, as cyclists were forced to compete using the same worn gear they’d been training on.

Triple world champion Ellen van Dijk won the time trial in the final stage of Spain’s Vuelta Extremadura Féminas on Sunday, just five months after giving birth, while Dutch cyclist Mareille Meijering took the general classification for the three stage race; no American finished in the top 25.

 

Finally…

That feeling when they build a new separated bikeway, and leave a lamppost in the middle of it. Or when you get a call from your dead friend’s phone asking for his bicycle back.

And a snow covered reminder of why we ride in California.

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

PCH near-closure due to Malibu rockslide, Tish & Greg’s Excellent Oscar Adventure, and East Side Riders BEAST classes

March 12, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 294 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,011 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

Photo from Caltrans tweet, below. 

………

As we mentioned yesterday, hats off to Tish and Greg Laemmle, owners of the Laemmle Theater chain, for once again leading a group bike ride from West LA to Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, as the following photos attest.

I can imagine few things more badass or sending a stronger message than walking the red carpet holding a bike helmet.

Tish and Greg Laemmle preparing to ride to the Oscars

The assembled entourage posing in front of the Laemmle on Santa Monica Blvd

And in a reminder that there’s always a troll around, a participant on the ride responds to a commenter’s faux concern about scofflaw riders.

………

The East Side Riders Bike Club will now be hosting Bicycle Safety and Education Classes, aka BEAST, as Keller Park every Saturday; participants will get a free bike helmet.

………

It’s now 83 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. A Cincinnati public radio station says bicyclists wonder if a Covington KY road diet, and new bike lanes on a bridge things, will make things better or worse, but can only seem to find people who think it will get better. But they do find the city’s mayor, arguing that the city’s streets are too narrow for bike lanes, and you just can’t take people’s parking away, because cars matter more than people’s safety, evidently.

There’s a special place in hell for the two men who stopped to “help” a seriously injured mountain biker in York, England, and made off with his bike, instead.

The metro Manilla area in the Philippines is banning ebikes from all major roadways starting next month, for reasons that must make sense to someone.

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

Brooklyn police are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who may have killed a 67-year old man riding an ebike in an apparent bike-on-bike collision, although a close pass by an oncoming van driver may have played a role.

………

Local 

After conducting a nationwide search, Pasadena found their new DOT head in their own backyard, promoting 20-year Pasadena Department of Transportation veteran Joaquin Siques to lead the agency.

Santa Monica police will conduct yet another Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Operation this Thursday and Friday, targeting anyone who commits a traffic violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line, so you’re not the one who gets written up and fined. 

 

State

June will officially be mountain bike month in California.

San Luis Obispo has received $4 million in federal funding to build a 1.25-mile extension of the existing Edna Valley Trail next to Highway 227.

The chair of the San Mateo County Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee reminds everyone that bicyclists pay taxes, too, and deserve safe streets.

Sad news from San Jose, where a woman died a week after she was struck by a motorcyclist while riding her bicycle across the street. The story notes that she was riding “outside of any marked crosswalks,” even though there’s no requirement for bicyclists to ride in one. 

More sad news from Sacramento County, where police are looking for witnesses to an apparent solo bicycling fall last December, when a 62-year old man died after being found in the roadway next to his bicycle. Although it’s also possible that a close pass or bump by a driver could have caused his fall. Read the second link on Yahoo if the newspaper blocks you. 

 

National

No surprise here, as the streets of Milwaukee are even deadlier for people of color, especially when walking or riding a bicycle.

A West Warwick, Rhode Island driver somehow managed to jump an island at a “horrible” intersection, and crash into not one, not two, but three kids riding their bikes; fortunately, none of the tween kids were seriously injured.

A speeding Brooklyn driver faces charges for the “wild” drunken crash that injured a bike rider, and put a pedestrian into a coma.

This could be your best smile of the day, as a South Carolina boy teaches his little sister how to use a backyard bike ramp.

Residents of Valdosta, Georgia are understandably horrified when the driver of a city-owned semi was caught on security cam right-hooking a 56-year old man riding a bicycle, who had pulled up next to the truck at a red light just as the light was changing; the victim remains in stable but critical condition. Naturally, one commenter said “Bicyclists should know traffic laws,” even though the victim didn’t appear to break any. 

 

International

An orthopedic surgeon writes in the prestigious British Medical Journal that active transportation is the “best buy” for improving people’s health, and the UK should make more cycling and walking journeys a priority in the United Kingdom, while calling for more 20 mph speed limits.

Mumbai bike riders raise the alarm over wheel-trapping roadway grates on a new highway flyover. Even though most cities around the world got rid of these hazards years ago. 

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 91-year old South African man gets back on his ebike and finishes the country’s largest fondo, despite a nasty fall that left him momentarily motionless. Although I could do without the nasty fall. And the bandages. 

Luxury Travel Magazine recommends three bicycling routes you need to travel to explore Vietnam by bike, including the Mekong Delta and the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Which are bound to bring up warm memories for any Vietnam vet.

A columnist argues that New Zealand’s war on bicyclists can’t continue, as the country’s Transport Minister proposes slashing bike funding in half, even though other departments only face a 6% cut.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling says wet cobbles couldn’t slow Lorena Wiebes down at the Ronde van Drenthe. Although this one doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else yet, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.

 

Finally…

That feeling when Amsterdam has the ability to remotely slow ebike riders, but speeding drivers are apparently A-OK. Or when drivers owe a bike rider their thanks for sucking up flat-causing nails and screws by towing a bigass magnet behind his bike.

And your next cruiser ebike could be built by the same people who made the little red wagon you probably had as a kid.

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

EVs present danger to all road users, how Measure HLA ballot measure changed the city, and Laemmle’s bike the Oscars

March 11, 2024 / / Comments Off on EVs present danger to all road users, how Measure HLA ballot measure changed the city, and Laemmle’s bike the Oscars
Just 295 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,010 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

………

A new study shows even a total worldwide switch to EVs would perpetuate what the authors call “car harm,” such as death, injury, disease and other miseries, because the current system “prioritizes speed over safety.”

 

The report concludes:

  • In 2019, 43% of people killed by motor vehicles were walking, using a wheelchair or riding a bike.
  • Motor vehicles kill more than 700 children a day. Traffic deaths occur at the highest rates in Africa and Southeast Asia, and, in the US and Brazil, crashes disproportionately kill Black and Indigenous people.
  • SUVs, which make up nearly half of car sales globally, are eight times more likely than traditional cars to kill children.
  • Traffic-related air pollution is linked to circulatory and heart disease, lung cancer, asthma and, according to a cited study, “acute lower respiratory infections in children.”
  • Other car harms include drunk driving, drive-by shootings, carbon monoxide poisoning and, in the US, traffic stops that “are a setting for police violence against Black, Latine/x, and Indigenous people,” they write.
  • Access to oil has played a role in a quarter to half of wars between countries since 1973.
  • The electric car, a juggernaut of the energy transition, “fails to address a majority of the harms,” they write, including crashes, sedentary travel, inequality and cities designed more for cars than people.

 

Greg and Tish Laemmle, owners of the Laemmle Theater chain and descendant of early Hollywood royalty, led a group biking to the Oscars yesterday.

………

GCN tests whether an experienced amateur can descend at the same hair-raising speeds as a pro cyclist.

………

It’s now 82 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. A writer for Streetsblog complains that an NYPD precinct is responding to complaints about ebike riders by targeting riders of traditional human-powered bikes, because they’re easier to catch.

A Scottish mountain biker was lucky to escape without serious injuries after someone booby trapped a trail with buried spike strips they had welded together to cause maximum damage.

A British woman learns the hard way what happens when you hug the edge of the road, as several drivers pass her bike way too close — including a large truck.

No bias here, either. The UK traffic lawyer who calls himself Mr. Loophole for getting scofflaw drivers off the hook continues his campaign to force bike riders to carry ID and have numbered license plates on their bicycles. Apparently forgetting that it’s the dangerous drivers he represents who are the real problem. 

………

Local 

A letter from a former LA resident argues that the passage of Measure HLA is proof that NIMBYs aren’t the majority, no matter how loudly they scream.

Arnold is apparently in the clear, after the woman suing the former governator for crashing into her bike with his massive SUV dropped her lawsuit.

A 40-year old man was airlifted from the Haines Canyon Mountainway in the Sunland/Tujunga area after injuring his back in a mountain bike fall Sunday morning.

Culver City is asking the state for a $4 million grant to replace existing bike lanes with protected lanes on a 1.75-mile stretch of Overland Avenue between Washington and Sawtelle Boulevards.

 

State

An op-ed from the leaders of Hispanic rights organization LULAC and the California Alliance for Jobs calls for an “all of the above” approach to transportation infrastructure to keep people working. But what they really mean is keep spending billions on highways — even though bike and pedestrian projects create more jobs.  

San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood received a $3.3 million state grant for enhanced bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

A Simi Valley letter writer calls out the “dismal condition” of the city’s major streets and bike lanes, thanks to a “multitude of ruts, cracks, potholes.”

San Francisco bike shop owner fear the city’s new ban on dangerous lithium-ion ebike batteries, along with a requirement for any store that sells them to install sprinklers, could put them out of business. Meanwhile, a British member of Parliament calls the batteries “unexploded bombs.”

 

National

A travel website recommends 20 American cities to visit without a car.

Jalopnik says bike lanes are good for business, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. So there.

Electrek says riding an ebike instead of driving can really impact your wallet — in a good way.

Bicycling drama Hard Miles is set for a nationwide April 19 premier date; the fact-based film tells the story bicycling team made up of inmates from a Colorado correctional school as they ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon.

Give your kid an early start on the biking bug with a new book large-format picture book for kids ages 3 to 6 that follows a mom and her son on a bicycling adventure.

This is who we share the road with. Life is cheap in Vermont, as the driver who killed motorcycle-riding actor Treat Williams walked without a day behind barsl, despite pleading guilty to negligent driving.

A writer for Forbes offers advice on how to stay safe riding a bicycle in New York traffic. Or any other traffic, for that matter.

The mayor of Baltimore’s security team parked in a bike lane for over an hour while he attended a candidate forum, despite the city’s recent crackdown on bike lane violators.

 

International

An Irish man just returned home for bicycling across Afghanistan, Iran, India and Pakistan as part of a multi-stage ride around the world, while attempting to meet as many people as possible along the way.

A conservative Irish counselor claims she was never told that a Limerick road project included segregated bike lanes — even though she posted on Facebook four years ago how delighted she was with them.

Velo looks at the best bike tech from small brands only Belgians have access to.

A bicycling organization hosting a series of of bicycling“camps in spectacular destinations throughout Türkiye, formerly known as Turkey in the English-speaking world.

Rappler rides a 120 kilometer — 75 mile — bike route through central Manila to rate the roadway quality, and concludes not so much.

David Seymour, leading of New Zealand’s rightwing Act Party, wasn’t injured when he went over his ebike handlebars to avoid a driver, then suffered verbal abuse from a bystander who complained about what he was doing to the Māori, even though he is one.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-four-year old American Matteo Jorgenson won the Paris-Nice stage race on Sunday, capping the biggest victory of his young career, as Cycling News offers a blow-by-blow recount of the final stage; Bobby Julich in 2005, and ex-Tour de France champ Floyd Landis in 2006, are the only other Americans to win the iconic Race to the Sun.

Tour de France champ Jonas Vingegaard claimed a dominating victory in the seven-day Tirreno-Adriatico stage race, as the Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team took both Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico in the same year for the first time.

Ghana’s national cycling team blamed substandard equipment for their poor showing in the ongoing Africa Games, competing on their own aluminum-frame bikes and using the same gear they train on.

This year’s 38th annual Redlands Bicycle Classic will take place on April 10th through this 14th.

 

Finally…

If you’re carrying illegal narcotics on your bike, put a damn light on it and don’t ride on the sidewalk. Your next ebike could have four wheels and look more like a dorky little car. Or maybe be made of recycled plastic.

And an NFL cheerleader turns gravel racer, while a track cyclist turns astronaut.

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Support for Measure HLA shows near-identical overlap to LA’s High Injury Network, and making art out of bike chains

March 8, 2024 / / Comments Off on Support for Measure HLA shows near-identical overlap to LA’s High Injury Network, and making art out of bike chains
Just 298 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,008 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

Streetsblog photo of former LA Mayor, and current Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti declaring Vision Zero from behind his big open-air desk, which led to the development of LA’s largely ignored High Injury Network.

………

Now this is interesting.

A comparison of LA’s Vision Zero High Injury Network with a map of support for Measure HLA created by The Works LA, which passed with overwhelming support on Tuesday, shows nearly identical results.

Which explains a lot about who supported it, and why.

It’s also worth noting that the areas with the fewest deaths and serious injuries, and the least support for HLA, include some of the wealthiest and most conservative parts of the city.

Slide the center divider to compare the images below.

………

A “visionary” South Korean sculptor makes breathtaking art using bicycle chains.

………

A British bike rider was lucky to avoid serious injury when a maniacal speeding driver decided pass several vehicles on the grass verge at the side of the road.

To make matters worse, the driver was only fined the equivalent of $436, and lost his license for a lousy year.

………

It’s now 79 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

Good question. Business Insider examines why so many business and restaurant owners oppose bike lanes, when study after study shows they’re good for business.

No bias here. A Key Biscayne letter writer demands a total and permanent ban on ebikes because young kids ride them on the sidewalk. Instead of, say, regulating their use by children, and building safe infrastructure so they don’t have to ride them on sidewalks. 

No bias here, either. A Dublin, Ireland city councilor for the Sinn Féin political party argued that bike lanes “are for a ‘privileged minority,’ negatively impact ‘ordinary people,’ and are making the roads more dangerous.” By which he no doubt means the privileged minority who can’t afford or don’t want cars, inconveniencing ordinary people driving alone in their massive, high-end SUVs. 

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

Police in Irvine, California are looking for the bike-riding man who repeatedly broke wildfire-detection equipment.

London’s Daily Mail complains about the “shocking” images of a “selfish” bike rider going through a crosswalk when five people were using it, including three kids. Yes, the guy was a selfish jerk. But just wait until they learn that drivers do that on a daily basis.

………

Local 

Hats off to South LA’s Major Taylor Cycling Club for raising funds for the track team at Dorsey High School.

Police in Redondo Beach held a community meeting last night to gather input on ebike use in the city. Which at least makes more sense than the knee-jerk restrictions we’ve seen in other coastal cities.

 

State

The California Air Resources Board announced grants totaling $33 million for planning and implementing clean transportation projects across the state, while they continue to slow walk the state’s moribund ebike voucher program.

An “overly sedentary” Chico letter writer says he gets in the steps his health app demands by walking his ebike until he gets tired, and sees a lot that way. Which kinda seems to defeat the purpose, but still.

 

National

A new report by equity expert and former LACBC head Tamika Butler offers a guide to equity principles for state DOTs and community collaboration.

Trek announced plans to cut staffing, inventory and bike lineups to achieve a 10% overall cost reduction.

Forbes says the new Hollywood movie Hard Miles could give bicycling the same boost Breaking Away did back in the late 70s.

Speaking of movies, a reminder about the new documentary that highlights mountain biking on the Navajo Nation.

An Albuquerque, New Mexico man was sentenced to life behind bars for killing a man he thought had taken his bicycle. Which is a reminder that no bike is worth a human life. Or two, in this case. 

Police in Madison, Wisconsin recovered the adaptive bicycle stolen from a kid with special needs. No word on the schmuck who took it, though.

The New York Times examines why last year was the deadliest year for New York bicyclists since 1999, noting that most deaths occurred on streets without bicycle infrastructure, and a third of deaths involved solo falls.

New York officials are dragging their feet on plans to expand a bikeway on the Queensboro Bridge, despite data showing bike riders keep crashing on the narrow bike lane.

Baltimore residents get out the torches and pitchforks over the city’s Complete Streets plan, citing a lack of community engagement in affected areas. Although if they’re anything like LA residents, “lack of community engagement” just means they’ve ignored repeated attempts to engage them. 

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is really cheap in Florida, where a sheriff’s deputy walked with a lousy traffic ticket for killing a 63-year old bike rider, while doing 98 miles an hour in a 50 mile zone, and not responding to a call. Which should be Exhibit A for why people keep dying on our streets.

 

International

The United Nations Regional Information Center for Western Europe considers how to address the gender gap in bicycling, while the European Union just wants more people on bicycles, period.

The rich get richer, as London gets yet another massive new bicycle superhighway, in a city where the bike network has quadrupled in size in just eight years.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website says there’s never been a better time to chase the Northern Lights by bicycle.

Momentum visits Bologna, Italy’s three-day Cycle Tourism Show, inspiring bike riders for their next two-wheeled adventure.

 

Competitive Cycling

SoCal Cycling offers a photo gallery from the recent Taylor Elizabeth Clifford Memorial Grand Prix in Costa Mesa.

Seriously? If the era of doping is over in pro cycling, why did 130 out of 187 cyclists entered in a recent amateur race in Valencia, Spain suddenly abandon after drug testers showed up?

Say what? AOL somehow picked up a story from Bicycling reporting that Philippe Gilbert was forced to withdraw from the Tour de France after a grisly crash — in 2018.

 

Finally…

Even fashionable ladies rode bikes over 100 years ago. Who needs gears when you can have your very own 100-tooth chainring?

And mountain biking without the mountain in DTLA.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

LA Times declares overwhelming victory for Measure HLA, and yet another meeting for California ebike voucher program

March 7, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 299 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,007 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

………

Okay, now we can celebrate.

Because yesterday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times joined KNBC-4 in declaring Measure HLA has passed.

Backers of a citizen-sponsored ballot initiative that forces Los Angeles to add hundreds of miles of bike and bus lanes — to make streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists — declared victory on Wednesday.

Measure HLA was leading by a wide margin, according to semifinal results released by the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk on Wednesday.

“This says people in Los Angeles want change, they want safer streets, and they want the city to follow through on their promises,” said Michael Schneider, who has led the HLA campaign and is executive director of the advocacy group Streets for All, which conceived the measure.

The measure, otherwise known as the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal, requires the city to build out the Mobility Plan 2035, which was overwhelmingly approved by the city council in 2015 — then promptly put on the self and forgotten.

In fact, you could count the percentage of the plan that has been installed in the nearly decade since on your hands, and still have plenty of fingers left to tell the city how you feel about their decided inaction.

HLA, which goes into effect next month, will require the city to built out the mobility plan any time a one-eighth mile, or 660 feet, segment of street contained in the plan is improved or resurfaced.

The city will be required to track their progress online. And if they don’t fulfill their obligation, residents can sue to force compliance.

Backers overcame opposition from a handful of city council members, along with pro-motorist pressure group KeepLAMoving, and the city’s chief financial officer, who loaded the cost estimate with over $2 billion in barely related expenses that the city would have been required to spend anyway.

The measure was also opposed by the Los Angeles firefighters union, which took a bizarre stance against improving traffic safety while expressing fears it would somehow slow their response times — even though road diets, bus lanes and bike lanes have been shown to improve emergency responses by allowing vehicles to bypass traffic.

The Times applauded the passage of HLA, noting that it will finally spur action from City Hall to increase alternatives to driving.

People are frustrated with congestion but they don’t have great alternatives to driving. Buses get stuck in the same traffic. There aren’t enough protected bike lanes. And too many neighborhoods lack smooth sidewalks, crosswalks, shade trees, street lights and other basic amenities that make it easier for people to walk.

Measure HLA will ensure those alternatives finally get built, after too many delays by City Hall…

Opponents tried to argue that L.A. is a city of cars and nobody wants to use bike lanes or bus lanes or pedestrian amenities. But they missed the point of Measure HLA — which is that the streets today are bad for everyone, motorists included. If the Mobility Plan isn’t implemented and people don’t have safe alternatives to driving, then traffic congestion and, most likely, the number of traffic fatalities will only get worse.

Fortunately, the passage of Measure HLA means the Mobility Plan is no longer a choice for city leaders. It’s a mandate.

But not everyone was in agreement.

The conservative Southern California New Group somehow considered HLA “controversial,” despite the support of nearly two-thirds of voters in the primary election.

And cited a notorious pro-driving activist to back up that contention.

Jay Beeber, executive director for policy for the National Motorists Association and executive director for Safer Streets L.A., said the measure sounded good but would lead to “a whole host of problems for the city.”

Beeber said voters just created “a massive congestion problem in the city, and they are going to live with that decision for a long time. Most people who read the measure are expecting that it’s just simply roadway improvements and not that it’s going to be taking away car lanes, not that it’s going to be creating congestion, not that it’s going to push traffic into their neighborhoods, not that it’s going to increase (emergency) response times.”

The question now is whether opposition groups will file suit in an attempt to block the measure. And whether city leaders will seek ways to slow walk its implementation, or attempt to bypass it completely.

Which seems likely, given the city’s extensive track record of broken promises.

It seems a very long time ago that the corgi and I met Streets For All founder Michael Schneider in Pan Pacific Park to sign the Healthy Streets LA ballot petition.

………

It’s now 78 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Despite a promised launch this spring, the California Air Resources Board will hold yet another online work group next Thursday to gather input for implementing the ebike incentive program.

Because evidently, nearly three years just wasn’t enough time to work it all out.

………

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

London police apologized after dropping the charges against a bike rider who filmed a distracted driver using a handheld phone, just one day before he was set to go on trial for allegedly riding “without due care and attention.”

No bias here. A Dublin, Ireland city councillor strongly denies being anti-bicyclist, despite calling for mandatory registration and insurance for bike riders, which is currently required only by the North Korean dictatorship.

………

Local 

The Pacific Palisades Community Council will discuss plans for a pedestrian and bike bridge crossing PCH at tonight’s public meeting; the bridge will connect Will Rogers State Beach to George Wolfberg Park, named for the longtime community and bicycle advocate.

Santa Monica police will conduct more bike and pedestrian safety operations today and tomorrow, ticketing any violation that endangers anyone in the two groups, regardless of who commits it. So as usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line, so you’re not the one who gets written up and fined. 

 

State

State Senator Scott Wiener explained his latest bill in the state legislature in an online preview of the upcoming Calbike summit; SB 960 would require Caltrans to fully implement its own Complete Streets policies, similar to Measure HLA.

Bicyclists question a Caltrans Complete Streets plan for El Camino Real in Palo Alto, arguing that the bike lanes planned for the street are intended for roadways with speeds up to 35 mph, while speeding drivers often exceed that.

Heartbreaking news from Dublin, California, where a 10-year old boy suffered “significant injuries” when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike. But at least the driver stuck around after the crash.

The Director of Mobility for the Oakland mayor’s office says he dreams of a day when he can just stick to bicycling, and not have to worry about being stopped for Biking While Black. Read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you.

 

National

A travel website lists 12 beautiful rail trails across the US, along with the upcoming 3,700-mile Great American Rail Trail that’s currently under construction.

Seattle-based ebike maker Rad Power has introduced four new models featuring a heat-absorbing resin coating the battery to prevent corrosion and “thermal events,” like unexpectedly exploding or bursting into flames.

You now have to be at least 18 years old to ride an ebike in Phoenix, which means that ebike-riding school students are breaking the law.

A bill in the Illinois legislature would require cities specify the safety features and degree of separations between motorists and bicyclists in any maps showing bike lanes.

 

International

London has quadrupled the city’s bike lane mileage since the current mayor took office eight years ago.

A website for the “world’s urban leaders” examines how the Parisian e-scooter ban has affected the city’s mobility, as well as the booming bike use in the French capital.

After a Brisbane, Australia ghost bike was removed by city officials and reinstalled by bicyclists a half-dozen times, advocates put it on a trailer legally parked in a bike lane, instead.

The Australian Bicycle Network examines the safety in numbers effect, noting studies that show more bikes on the streets improves safety for everyone.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Iran, where rising track and road cyclist Ariana Valinejad died a week after she was injured when a gas leak in her home exploded; she was just 20 years old.

Colombian pro Santiago Buitrago soloed to a mountaintop win on stage 4 of Paris-Nice, passing Australia’s Luke Plapp to take the leader’s jersey. And no, I never heard of them, either. 

CNN says Team Visma-Lease a Bike’s “outlandish” new Giro bike helmets are under review by pro cycling’s governing body. The helmets include a full face shield, apparently to hide the embarrassment of the people wearing them. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when new bike racks nearly kill your business by preventing drivers from illegally parking in front of it. Who needs a marching band when you can pedal, instead?

And let’s hope they at least read the poor bike its rights. Thanks to Steven Hallett for the photo. 

Photo by Steven Hallett

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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