Tag Archive for Los Angeles

US bike deaths climb as traffic deaths drop, falling down a water bike rabbit hole, and a summer solstice bike ride Friday

June 18, 2025 / / No comments
Day 169 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Talk about a blast from the past.

Cycling West reports that the federal government released their latest stats on traffic violence in the US.

For 2023.

It’s always taken the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, the better part of a year to compile and release the nationwide statistics on traffic deaths and injuries, but nearly a year and a half seems a tad extreme.

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.

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Bike Culver City is hosting a Summer Solstice Ride this Friday to celebrate the longest day of the year.

https://twitter.com/BikeCulverCity/status/1935029132808831394

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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.”

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Local 

Pasadena rejected all bids for a planned North Raymond Ave traffic-calming project aimed at slowing speeding drivers after all the bids exceeded estimates.

 

State

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.

 

National

Good idea. Oregon legislators are adding an ebike rebate and bike path funding back into the new transportation bill, while increasing the sales tax on luxury cars to fund them. Taxing luxury cars in California could probably fund every bike path in the state. 

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.

An Illinois man will have to stay behind bars pending trial for killing a 12-year old boy on a bicycle while driving at more than twice the legal alcohol limit.

The family of a fallen bicyclist has sued the police department in Indianapolis, after the 34-year old father of two was killed when a cop responding to a home invasion drove onto the sidewalk to avoid another driver, and hit his bike head-on.

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.

Good for him. A 12-year old boy filed suit after New York’s mayor cancelled plans to protect a Williamsburg bike lane, which is currently full of parked cars whose drivers are undeterred by the painted bike lane.

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.

Over 55 local, state and national organizations are calling for bike and pedestrian lanes on Maryland’s new Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which will replace the bridge knocked down last year by an out-of-control freighter.

 

International

Your next e-cargo bike could be a four-wheeled, pedal-powered Honda delivery van.

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.

Japanese bike riders will face fines for minor traffic violations beginning April 1st, including the equivalent of $84 for distracted bicycling. And no, that’s not a premature April Fools joke. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-year old British cyclist Ben Wiggins is following in the footsteps, uh, pedal strokes, of his more famous, knighted, Tour de France-winning dad.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your bike-riding barber makes house calls. When you’re out riding with friends, maybe try not to ride through a military live-fire exercise.

And why wait until the bikes leave the shop before crashing into them?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Angry security guard rams car into kid on bike, burnout driver slams into Inglewood crowd, and crowdfunding for Marvin Cortez

June 17, 2025 / / No comments
Day 168 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A security guard for a San Raphael shopping mall faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon and child abuse for allegedly using his patrol vehicle as a weapon.

The 66-year old guard is accused of running over a kid riding a bicycle after he became angry when a group of children took down the caution tape blocking off part of a two-story parking garage.

He drove away after the crash, but returned later to turn himself in.

The young victim was hospitalized with injuries that were described as non-life threatening.

But you have to wonder what the charges would have been if he had used a gun instead of a motor vehicle.

The only difference is the size of the weapon.

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This is who we share the road with.

At least six people were injured when a driver doing burnouts “to get attention” lost control and plowed into a crowd of people standing on an Inglewood sidewalk protesting ICE immigration raids.

KTLA-5 reports the victims included 14 and 16 year old kids.

Fortunately — and surprisingly — the victims’ injuries were not believed to be serious.

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A crowdfunding campaign is raising funds for a memorial for Marvin Cortez, the 37-year old man killed by a driver while riding his bike on Stunt Road in Calabasas on Saturday.

The story of his death is also beginning to change, as witnesses claim the driver was out of control, and rumble strips in the center of the roadway make it unlikely that Cortez would have been riding on the wrong side of the road, as initial reports claimed.

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South Pasadena, Alhambra and San Gabriel will host a five-mile open streets event from 3 pm to 8 pm this Sunday.

Which means you could double up, and do the Historic South Central meets Watts CicLAvia and the Active Streets: Mission at Twilight the same day.

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

Denver, Colorado spent $200,000 to make a downtown street more dangerous, removing flex posts from a protected bike lane because people complained about visual clutter, choosing prettier slight lines over human lives.

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Local 

The Santa Monica city council approved a pilot program allowing bicyclists to ride in select bus lanes in the city.

 

State

The YMCA in San Diego’s Mission Valley opened its own $300,000 skate and bike park, creating what could become a training facility for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

A Santa Ana bike thief was busted on a local bike trail after police located him thanks to an AirTag hidden on the bike.

The University of California’s Berkeley Library marks the retirement of a librarian who rode the San Francisco to LA AIDS/LifeCycle Ride six times, stating that librarianship and bicycling are both “powered by compassion, care, and a sense of community.” I would have said the latter was powered by strong legs and a good crank, but what the hell do I know?

A British woman rode her bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles — or most of the way, anyway — in search of “real American cuisine,” from Berkeley’s Chez Panisse to The Apple Pan on Pico Blvd in LA, and on to the original McDonalds in Downey.

 

National

Hit-and-run alerts help, but they’re not perfect. Authorities in Colorado sounded the alarm after a man was found dead next to his bicycle, urging any witnesses to the hit-and-run to come forward, but the coroner later determined there were no traumatic injuries that could have led to his death, and the cause of death remains undetermined.

Even tiny Basalt, Colorado gets it, issuing ebike rebates for the second year in a row to get residents out of their cars.

Police in Pittsburgh PA are looking for a pair of hit-and-run drivers who critically injured a man riding a bicycle in what appeared to be a street race; the drivers were caught on a security cam traveling side-by-side at a high rate of speed before slamming into the victim.

Vermont will now allow bike riders to cross a street on the pedestrian signal, legalizing something many riders already do — although the law won’t take effect for another year.

 

International

A London council is accused of installing “prohibitive, discriminatory” barriers on a steep ramp at the exit of a park in order to stop possibly nonexistent speeding bicyclists, forcing people with disabilities and families in cargo bikes onto a busy road with no bike lane, while ignoring a January compromise agreement.

A motor vehicle once again became a weapon of mass destruction when the 87-year old driver of a motorhome slammed into a group of four Swiss bicyclists in Cher, France, killing two people in their 60s and critically injuring a third. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive — especially a vehicle that can weigh seven tons or more.

Malaysian roads are under increased scrutiny after a man riding a bike was killed due to cracked pavement, just a week after 15 students were killed in a bus crash, as statistics show one person is killed every two hours in the country due to traffic violence.

 

Competitive Cycling

USA Cycling offers an insiders guide to mountain biking in Bentonville, Arkansas, revealing what they claim makes it the perfect training ground for the USA Cycling National Mountain Bike Team.

Aussie sprinter Michael Matthews was forced to drop out of next month’s Tour de France when doctors diagnosed him with a pulmonary embolism.

You might not win Wisconsin’s Tour of America’s Dairyland, but your mutt could be selected as the Dog of the Day.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be a car, sort of. Your next e-cargo bike could come with a detachable rickshaw-style rear seat for your family, or maybe the in-laws.

And that feeling when a century ride to select the ultimate road bike ends up in the ER.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Passive aggressive Paris bikelash screed, cops blame San Diego ebike victim, and four years for Magnus White killer

June 16, 2025 / / No comments
Day 167 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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No bias here.

London’s Sunday Times has apparently dropped its paywall once again so more people can read a passive aggressive post on the reputed Parisian bikelash.

Where, by their telling, people on bicycles in Paris are entitled hipsters who endanger old people, while the humble bicycle itself is seen as “a symbol of aggression, every-man-for-himself and urban chaos.”

Of course it is.

And of course, it’s all part of the proverbial war on cars.

But it is the behaviour of the cyclists themselves and their apparent disdain for the code de la route that appears to be provoking many Parisians.

Many drivers, already resentful at losing precious road space to dedicated cycle lanes, dismiss those on two wheels as bobos, a catch-all term for privileged hipsters. Matters have been worsened by the proliferation of delivery riders, usually under time pressure and often astride heavy electric machines that can go at 30 mph or more.

Never mind that the European Union limits ebikes to just 15.5 mph.

Then there’s this.

Nine out of ten cyclists (88 per cent) admitted to having broken traffic rules in a survey in Paris and nine other French cities last October. Some 75 per cent confessed to riding on pavements, 55 per cent to turning without signalling and the same number to running red lights.

Young riders appeared the most reckless: three quarters said they did not wear helmets or reflective clothing, and a quarter admitted pedalling without lights.

Because as everyone knows, French drivers are the most courteous, respectful and law-abiding motorists on the Continent.

Right?

But at least they get this part right.

But is an unequal battle: cars and other motor vehicles were responsible for the overwhelming majority of the 451 pedestrians and 222 cyclists killed in France last year, according to provisional official figures from the French Road Safety Observatory.

By contrast, three pedestrians were killed by bicycles and six by electric scooters. Though tiny in comparison, this was higher than in previous years.

Although maybe the fact that bicycle and e-scooter ridership has boomed in Paris since the mayor began reconstructing the streets to build a bike and pedestrian friendly 15-minute city.

So an increase in injuries and fatalities is to be expected — especially when electric motorbikes continue to be misidentified as bicycles.

But maybe, with traditional British disdain for their Gallic neighbors, the problem isn’t the bicycles.

It’s that the riders on them are, yes, French.

Perhaps, though, it is not the town planning that is the main problem.

Chantal from Nancy said that the cyclists were just as bad in her home city. “They’re all French,” she said. “The French mentality is that even if something is banned, you still do it and it doesn’t matter.”

Then again, it always helps when you get find someone from France to complain about the French.

Kind of like a self-identified cyclist complaining about bicyclists.

Photo from Pexels. 

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San Diego police were quick to blame the victim after a 54-year old woman suffered serious injuries in a collision while riding an ebike early Saturday afternoon.

Investigators said she left a bike lane too soon while on northbound on Fairmount Ave, where it merges with Montezuma Road, and hit the side mirror of a car in the next lane.

Although another way to look at it is the driver was likely passing closer than the three-foot distance required to pass a bike rider under California law, or they probably wouldn’t have made contact.

Chances are, blame could also be placed on a poorly designed roadway that required her to leave the bike lane in the first place.

Maybe someone from San Diego could tell us more. But at first glance, this one doesn’t seem to pass the smell test.

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There’s justice, finally, for Magnus White.

The 24-year old Ukrainian immigrant who killed the 17-year old rising US Cycling Team member on a Colorado roadway after drinking and staying up all night was sentenced to four years in state prison, after she was convicted of felony vehicular homicide – reckless driving.

Yeva Smilianska will be required to spend at least three years of that sentence behind bars.

She could have been sentenced to anywhere from two to six years — or could have walked with probation.

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There’s a new bike path steering bicyclists around the tennis courts at Griffith Park.

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Who needs a tour bus when you’ve got a bicycle?

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

Embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams panders to Brooklyn voters by vowing to remove three blocks of a protected bike lane after local residents raised safety concerns. Although he may find there are more bike lane supporters than critics in the city.

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Local 

Today is the last day to submit comments on the Draft PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study to improve safety on SoCal’s killer highway.

 

State

A writer for the San Francisco Standard reports on what it was like to be a 44-year old, chubby trans woman taking part in the final AIDS/LifeCycle ride, although organizers announced they will hold two three-day rides next year.

 

National

People For Bikes says the 16-year old federal Bicycle Commuter Benefit is on the chopping block, as House Republicans voted to eliminate the meagre $20 a month tax rebate meant to encourage bike commuting.

Five Colorado bicyclists were injured, and three hospitalized, when they crashed while riding in a group of 12 riders outside of Sterling in the northeastern part of the state on Saturday; the good news is there was no car or driver involved.

 

International

Momentum writes in praise of spandex-free slow bicycling.

Tom’s Guide explains six essential checks to get your bike ready for the summer. They pretty much get it right, although most of us here in SoCal probably started months ago — if we ever stopped.

Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura shared photos of his visit to Havana, playing basketball with local kids and riding in one of Cuba’s bicitaxis, aka pedicabs.

A CBC reporter explains that Toronto’s bikeshare system has become a victim of its own success, and is looking to New York’s Citi Bike for solutions to meet its high demand.

People in Montreal and Quebec City are being discouraged from riding their bicycles by garbage bins, semis, cars and other obstacles on bike paths. In other words, kind of like pretty much everywhere else. 

Britain’s Aston Martin teamed with titanium hand-built bikemaker J.Laverackit to create “the most bespoke, advanced and meticulously engineered road bicycle ever made,” employing state-of-the-art design processes and manufacturing techniques more commonly found on Formula 1 cars.

Smithsonian examines how Sweden’s 60-year old Vätternrundan became the biggest recreational ride on the planet, offering 196 miles around the country’s Lake Vättern.

A writer for Travel + Leisure recommends a luxury bicycle tour as the best way to see Romania’s medieval villages, castles and vineyards, as well as the ghosts of its communist past.

That’s more like it. After a Singaporean man was killed in a collision after falling off his bicycle, Malaysian officials took responsibility for the poor condition of the roadway, blaming “crocodile cracking” caused by heavy vehicles, and ordered immediate road repairs.

 

Competitive Cycling

No surprise here. Slovenian star Tadej Pogacar dominated the Critérium du Dauphiné, winning nine of the 21 stages — including the Queen stage — even as rival Jonas Vingegaard put up a fight.

Ouch. Legendary cyclist Eddy Merckx chats with his old rival Roger De Vlaeminck, as the two men trash the current generation of riders, arguing that they don’t race often enough or hard enough, and get dropped too easily.

A 50-year old Iowa math teacher is tacking the 2,745-mile, Canada to Mexico Tour Divide for the second time.

French cyclist Romain Bardet called it a career after 14 years, including two podium finishes in the Tour de France, as the pro peloton showed its respect.

https://twitter.com/picnicpostnl/status/1934303154063171852

 

Finally…

If you’re going to preach the gospel, it might as well be from a bicycle on a cross-country ride. Who needs a touring bike to ride across the country when you’ve got a BMX?

And when life gives you an attempted murder charge, just go for a bike ride.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

When Streets Are For Everyone says everyone, they mean everyone; and join Bike LA for South LA CicLAvia feeder ride

June 13, 2025 / / No comments
Day 164 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It was a light news day in the world of bikes yesterday, so let’s get right to it. 

I mean, it’s not like anything else happened Thursday, right?

Ice photo by Dragon77 from Pixabay. 

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Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, responds to the recent ICE raids and the protests that followed by stressing that when they say everyone, they mean everyone. 

At Streets Are For Everyone, our mission is simple: improve the quality of life for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers alike by reducing traffic fatalities to zero. This mission does not exclude any Angeleno from our work. We strive to make streets safer for everyone, regardless of their mode of transportation, income, housing status, or immigration status. That means pushing for equitable design, advocating for justice, and demanding infrastructure that protects our most vulnerable neighbors.

The ongoing immigrant raids across Los Angeles, including the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops (and now Marines), did not make the streets safer. In fact, they worked to sow fear and discord across our communities.

Long after this current moment of ICE raids is over, our most vulnerable neighbors will continue to live in fear of moving around the city, of taking the bus, or simply walking down the street.

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Bike LA, nee Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, is hosting a CicLAvia feeder ride along the new Rail-to-Rail trail through South LA next Sunday.

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

No bias here. Washington DC unraveled two years of community work by unceremoniously removing barriers protecting a two-way bike lane, apparently because some people thought it was ugly and didn’t even bother to tell anyone before they did it, safety be damned. DC bike riders weren’t too thrilled by it, either.

A road-raging Florida woman says she drove down a multi-use path chasing a 14-year old boy riding an ebike, just so she could tell his parents he was riding too fast, apparently confused what “multi-use” means. So why is it always Florida?

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

The news director for a Wisconsin radio station complains about having to jam on the brakes to avoid a couple of stop sign-running bike riders. On the other hand, reckless drivers don’t seem to bother him at all. And why do people always feel the need to remind us that getting run over by a car or truck “doesn’t end well for the bicyclist,” as if that will somehow come as a surprise to anyone?

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Local 

A UCLA student was knocked cold by an attacker while riding his bike on campus and woke up to find his cellphone missing; the suspect was described as male, 5’6″ tall and wearing a black hoodie and black pants.

Santa Monica received $875,000 from SCAG — the Southern California Association of Governments — to improve and expand their neighborhood greenways.

 

State

GT Bicycles has cut ties with extreme mountain biking pioneer Hans ‘No Way’ Rey after a remarkable 38 years, as the Aliso Viejo-based bikemaker continues to shed sponsorships.

Santa Cruz County is encouraging residents to get out of their cars by launching their own ebike incentive program, with vouchers ranging from $300 to $1,200. That compares favorably to LA County’s program offering absolutely nothing. 

San Francisco moved the center-running Valencia Street protected bike lane back to the curb, but evidently forget to protect all of it.

A Chico bike park will now serve alcohol, for anyone who needs a few drinks to give it a try. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

 

National

Say what? Hawaii’s governor targets a bill prohibiting “high-speed electric devices” from the state’s roadways, arguing that it could ban electric cars and probably violates the US Constitution clauses regulating interstate commerce and banning discrimination against groups and individuals.

Denver removed plastic bollards from some protected bike lanes because drivers kept knocking them over, and concrete barriers last longer with less maintenance, anyway.

That’s more like it. A Colorado woman was sentenced to five years behind bars for fleeing the scene after killing a man riding a bicycle, until her lawyer called hours later to turn her in.

A Boston letter writer corrects a recent editorial, pointing out that it wasn’t the bike lane’s fault when a speeding driver jumped the sidewalk and hit a man riding a bicycle head-on.

Writing for Streetsblog, a New York man channels the spirt of 1970’s bicycle philosopher Ivan Illich, arguing that he would probably agree with the mayor’s 15 mph speed limit for ebikes, and wouldn’t be a fan of bicycle delivery riders, either.

Speaking of Gotham’s ebike-riding delivery riders, the city’s Department of Transportation is distributing four hundred fire-safe, certified ebike batteries to cut down on the risk of fires.

A Pennsylvania woman says she settled for riding just 10,000 miles in the year leading up to her 50th birthday, because it was too cold to ride 12,000.

A Virginia man blames a new bulb-out for making him fall off his bike, insisting that he didn’t see it on a road he rides regularly until it was too late.

 

International

No one else was around when a well-known Canadian paracyclist came to, after he was run down from behind while training in Whitehorse, forcing him to flag down a motorist with one good arm because the other one is now paralyzed — yet somehow, police aren’t even treating it as a hit-and-run.

A Guardian op-ed says cars already made pedestrians second-class citizens, and we can’t let driverless cars push us off the street entirely. If pedestrians are second-class citizens, imagine what that makes us. 

They get it. The New Zealand government is installing a dozen ebike charging stations along trails in Hawke’s Bay and Wellington to boost bicycle tourism, at a cost of nearly a half-million dollars.

 

Competitive Cycling

America’s other ex-Tour de France winner talks with Cyclist about the dark years following his fraudulent doping denials, and the redemption that was years coming.

 

Finally…

That feeling when electric bike pumps are great, but you’d rather do it the old-fashioned way. Call it the Wonka Chocolate Factory of cargo bikes, but without all the golden tickets.

And your next $3,500 electric scooter could look like a Cyber Truck.

Which ain’t necessarily a good thing.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

More bike and transportation bills advance in CA legislature, LA committees advance bike bills, and tariffs raise their ugly heads

June 12, 2025 / / No comments
Day 163 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Calbike reports on the California legislature’s halftime progress on a number of bicycling and transportation-related bills.

In addition to the bills we discussed yesterday, measures advancing from one chamber to the other include:

  • AB 382 lowers the speed limit around schools from 25 mph to 20 mph.
  • AB 720 reforms automated red light cameras to make the system more equitable and effective.
  • AB 1014 would give city’s more flexibility to lower speed limits on non-freeway state routes.
  • A number of bills further regulating ebikes also moved forward.

However, AB 981, which would have established a pilot program to require intelligent speed assist for drivers convicted of reckless driving, was held over for next year.

On the other hand, a bill that would have redefined electric motorbikes that exceed the state’s 28 mph speed limit for Class III ebikes died due to opposition from the DMV and the motorcycle industry.

And thankfully, AB 612, giving fire departments more authority over bikeway planning, died a merciful death. As we’ve seen, fire officials frequently oppose projects that would improve safety over misplaced fears it could slow their trucks; firefighters claimed protected bike lanes on Venice Blvd in Mar Vista caused dangerous delays, but LAFD’s own stats showed response times only dropped by a few seconds after the lanes were installed.

Meanwhile, Calbike says they’re working with Caltrans to “ensure the agency takes active transportation safety seriously and better implements Complete Streets on its highways,” after accusing the agency of ignoring a 2024 law mandating Complete Streets.

Photo from California State Assembly website.

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A joint session of the LA City Council Transportation and Public Works Committee approved motions for better bike path maintenance, bus cam enforcement of drivers parking in bike lanes, and how to implement Measure HLA, requiring the city to build out the mobility plan when streets are resurfaced.

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People For Bikes announced its support for a bipartisan bill in the US House that would remove tariffs on bicycle components to accelerate domestic bike manufacturing.

But they could still be subject to the 50% tariff on steel and aluminum, which are already driving up bike prices.

Exactly what the industry doesn’t need as it struggles to recover from the post-pandemic bike bust.

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

Apparently, former KNBC sportscaster Fred Roggin is spending his retirement working as a Palm Springs commentator, tackling the ever-popular subject of bike riders rolling stop signs. Never mind the drivers who do the same thing in their multi-ton SUVs. 

Police in the UK are looking for a road-raging mountain bike rider who evidently didn’t take kindly to getting hit by a driver, walking over to his car and assaulting him.

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Local 

Metro posted the results of their survey asking for the public’s budget priorities; unfortunately, biking and walking improvements are nowhere to be seen, although bikeshare showed increased support “when filtered by (its) respective geographic zones.”

Works for me. CD10 Councilmember Heather Hutt is proposing closing portions of four streets to convert Leimert Park’s Stocker Plaza into a public park.

Today is the last day to register for the cycling competition at the Pasadena Senior Games. And get your comments for the proposed 380-acre Haskell Canyon Bike Park in Saugus by end of day today.

 

State

Trump is expected to sign a measure today that will block California’s mandate banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. Okay, how about a mandate banning all cars within ten years, instead? 

 

National

She gets it. A writer for Streetsblog says empty bus and bike lanes are a feature, not a bug, because they move traffic more efficiently than all those lanes clogged up with cars.

Cycling Savvy posted video of Mighk Wilson’s recent webinar on data-driven planning for bicycling.

Bike Magazine says modern cross-country and short-travel mountain bikes may just be the ideal bikes for most riders.

Bad news from Las Vegas, where motorcycle deaths in Clark County have gone up 16% — and bicycling fatalities have more than doubled.

The Phoenix New Times examines the case of a Latino man shot in the back by police during the altercation that followed a pretextual traffic stop, after two cops pulled him over because he was riding his bike without a light near a drug house; he somehow allegedly pulled a gun and fired a shot at them, despite being dogpiled by both of the officers, whose body cams conveniently fell off during the struggle.

That’s more like it. Boulder, Colorado has taken an old storage space next to a bus stop and converted it into a free garage for bicycles — which is a great way to encourage more people to ride.

Heartbreaking news from Texas, where a 12-year old Houston boy was killed by a hit-and-run driver after he was chased by a dog before losing control of his bike and falling into traffic. Seriously, there’s a special place in hell for anyone who would take off and leave a kid to die in the street.

The Illinois legislature passed a handful of bike and pedestrian safety bills, including one giving every human-powered device and low-speed electric bicycle the same rights and responsibilities as two-wheeled bicycles, effectively legalizing recumbents, adaptive bikes and adult tricycles.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. An Illinois driver took off after striking a kid riding his bike in a crosswalk, and had to be stopped from fleeing by a witness — yet police cited him for a couple of lousy traffic violations, while giving him a walk on the hit-and-run.

New York is installing protective daylighting barriers at Brooklyn intersections to improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians.

That’s more like it, too. Louisiana’s governor signed a new bill imposing a mandatory sentence of at least two years for hit-and-run resulting in death or great bodily injury, without the possibility of probation, parole or a suspended sentence.

 

International

A Toronto city council committee concluded that only bicycles should be allowed in bike lanes, which are currently governed by a mixture of rules depending on what type of lane it is.

Former British cycling star Chris Boardman says the ebike panic is misplaced when 99.5% of road deaths are caused by the people in the big dangerous machines — not the ones riding on two wheels with a battery attached.

He gets it, too. A Dutch engineer says forget mandating bike helmets and focus on building bike lanes, which too often lose out to funding public transportation in local communities.

 

Competitive Cycling

I want to be like him when I grow up. Thirty-time mountain bike, road and ‘cross national champ Fred Schmid is still lining up for Unbound Gravel at 92-years old.

The International Olympic Committee and World Anti-Doping Agency issued a joint statement condemning the Enhanced Games, a pro-doping alternative to the Olympics where failing a drug test means not taking any. So if Lance is still looking to make a comeback, the door is wide open. 

 

Finally…

If you’re going to place an AirTag on your kid’s bike, make sure you’ve got the right bike. The two-year old daughter of a Legend is one of us, too.

And if anybody ever says I died doing what I love, I will come back and haunt them to the end of their miserable days.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Good news and bad news as CA legislature hits halftime, and “oopsie” shouldn’t get killer drivers off the hook

June 11, 2025 / / No comments
Day 162 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Streetsblog provides a halftime report from the California legislature, as bills move to one house after passing in the other.

Or die an ignominious death upon failing.

Among the winners so far are AB 954, aka The Bike Highways Bill, and AB 891, Quick-Build Project Pilot Program.

The former would set up a pilot program to connect existing bikeways into bike highways, while the latter would instruct Caltrans to use quick-build designs to improve state roads.

Among the other bills also passing in the Assembly was AB 366, allowing interlock devices for drivers convicted of DUI.

Bills passing in the state Senate included SB 71, streamlining CEQA environmental review requirements for public transportation, bike and pedestrian projects that would reduce car dependency.

Also passing the Senate was SB 445, which imposes a deadline on local agencies to review permits for Complete Streets and sustainable transportation projects.

Dying for this year were a bill that would have placed a statewide bond issue to fund sustainable transportation projects on next year’s California ballot, and one to allow victims of climate disasters or their insurers to sue oil companies to recoup their losses.

Meanwhile, the long awaited Stop As Yield, aka Idaho Stop, law that would allow California bike riders to treat stop signs as yields — and possibly roll through red lights after coming to a complete stop — will have to wait until we have a new governor in two years.

It wasn’t introduced this year because Gavin Newsom already vetoed two previous versions of the bill.

………

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

Life is cheap in Los Altos, where a man walked without a day behind bars for the distracted driving death of a 38-year old woman riding a bicycle after he was sentenced to probation and community service; he had faced up to six years for felony vehicular manslaughter. Not a single year, as the story suggests.

And life is equally cheap in Michigan, where a former cop walked without a day behind bars for killing an 83-year old man riding a bicycle, after he was sentenced to 12 lousy months of probation; the victim had just finished a ride across the country, and was on his way back home to Florida.

So what’s the point of even having traffic laws, if overly lenient judges won’t even hold drivers accountable for killing someone when they break them?

Just saying “oopsie” shouldn’t be good enough.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

A San Francisco woman has filed suit against Waymo after she was doored by the passenger of a Waymo self-driving cab, and prevented from taking evasive action by another Waymo cutting across the bike lane.

A new website tells you everything you always wanted to know about where and how to bike in and around Lake Tahoe. Okay, not literally in, unless you’ve invested in waterproof bike lube. 

 

National

CNN recommends the best bike shorts for a more comfortable ride, according to “seasoned cyclists.” Which raised the question of how were they seasoned, and whether they should be grilled, baked or air fried.

The rich get richer, as Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community Boulder, Colorado could soon get a protected bike lane on a dangerous stretch of one of the city’s main drags.

Kindhearted residents of five Iowa counties collected over 200 donated bicycles to restore and distribute to community members.

That’s more like it. A 25-year old Missouri woman was sentenced to ten years behind bars for the drunken collision that killed a 25-year old man riding a bicycle last year.

Hundreds of people turned out for a Slow Roll memorial ride to remember a 38-year old Ohio woman who was killed when an 18-year old driver crossed onto the wrong side of the road, slamming head-on into her and another woman riding their bikes together, along with a third person who escaped the crash. Maybe if we had a turnout like that when someone gets killed here, we could see some real change in LA, for a change. 

This is how Vision Zero should work. An Ohio city received a $1.4 million grant to install new sidewalks and shared-use paths where two young boys were struck by a driver while riding their bikes last year; a nine-year old boy was killed, while a 10-year old survived with serious injuries.

Streetsblog says if New York’s mayor really wants to improve traffic safety, the city should take advantage of a one-year old state law allowing it to lower speed limits to 20 mph, rather than scapegoating ebike riders, since NYC drivers injure over 9,600 pedestrians each year, leaving less than 40 due to all other causes.

Speaking of New York, the highly publicized crackdown on ebike riders is turning out to be, in the words of the bard, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” as judges are simply putting the vaunted criminal summonses on hold pending dismissal.

Philadelphia advocates are racing to get a bike lane approved by City Hall, for the streets around City Hall, in advance of a summer repaving project and before the city council takes the rest of the summer off.

Apparently, Florida drivers don’t know how to avoid curbs, because they keep crashing into the barriers for a new curb-protected bike lane in Palm Springs.

 

International

Now you, too, can bike your way to better brain health and away from dementia, which is good news for all of us.

Britain’s Cyclist Magazine recommends the best Father’s Day gifts for bicycling dads. Even though the best gift is just more time to ride.

The BBC has finally realized that bicyclists with bike cams aren’t “vigilantes” or “grassing snitches,” belatedly concluding that cameras help bring dangerous drivers to justice and are often the only recourse riders have. Although California law doesn’t allow them to be used against drivers for traffic violations or misdemeanors, technology be damned. 

Dutch ebike brand VanMoof is back from the dead with two new models, after it was rescued from bankruptcy by the electric scooter division of McLaren.

A local campaign by a group of young Scouts in Romania has blossomed into a nationwide movement to build safe bike infrastructure, in a country where kids under 14 are banned from biking on public streets.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as a writer for the BBC rides Morocco’s 520-mile Route of the Caravans, offering a view of the country few tourists ever see.

A new Chinese-made ebike conversion kit promises to install the first time in just three minutes, and ten seconds thereafter, while offering one of the smallest and most portable sizes yet; a crowdfunding campaign will launch soon offering an early bird price of just $349. Although how that could be affected by Trump’s on-and-off tariffs is TBD. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Seriously? The solo Race Across America, aka RAAM, kicked off in Oceanside CA yesterday, sending competitors over 3,000 miles virtually nonstop to Annapolis, Maryland. But the only mention anywhere in the news comes from a radio station in Osage Beach, Missouri.

 

Finally…

When you’re the king’s sister-in-law, of course you wear $900 pumps to a mountain bike park. That feeling when an apparently AI-written story recommends five scenic cyclist-friendly trails, but can’t be bothered to tell you where they are.

And this is pretty much the opposite of sticking the landing.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

California once again chooses highways over people, Bike Highway bill advances, and bike items at LA Council Committees

June 10, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 161 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

No surprise here.

Calbike complains that California’s transportation budget once again prioritizes highways at the expense of active transportation.

CalBike and other advocates had a modest ask from California’s nearly $20 billion 2025 transportation budget: give back $400 million stripped from the Active Transportation Program (ATP) in 2024, as the legislature promised to do in last year’s budget. Yet the legislature’s version, released today, includes no additional funding for the ATP.

Last year’s cutbacks limited the program to funding just 13 projects for safe biking and walking infrastructure across the state. The missing funds could immediately jumpstart 30 local infrastructure projects that applied for funding and are ready to break ground.

That $400 million works out to just two percent of the massive transportation budget.

Two. percent.

Also known as a rounding error in the whopping $321.9 billion state budget. But the state would rather go against its own climate goals to keep funding highways, at a time when the state is literally burning.

So if you don’t feel comfortable on California streets, you can rest easy knowing that drivers will still be able to go zoom zoom, thanks to the money that didn’t go to improve your safety.

At least until induced demand catches up with them.

Photo by Vitaly Kushnir from Pexels. 

………

Speaking of Calbike, the California bike advocacy group celebrated the passage of AB 954, aka the Bike Highways Bill, in the state Assembly.

As examples of what something like that would look like, they singled out LA County’s 35-mile San Gabriel River Trail, and the partially completed 110-mile Santa Ana River Trail, as prime examples.

The group also issued design guidance on Class IV bike lanes, defined as on-street bikeways separated from car traffic by some type of physical barrier.

Although you can probably guess how many Class IV bike lanes Caltrans built between 2018 and 2023, after the legislature approved them in 2015.

Yep. Just this side of zero.

………

Streets For All asks you to support three bike-related issues at Wednesday’s joint meeting of the Los Angeles City Council Transportation and Public Works committees, in person or by commenting in advance.

Item #5 looks at using cameras to better enforce bike lanes, item #14 would assign the maintenance of bike paths and lanes to Public Works, and item 15 is the long awaited HLA implementation ordinance.

………

Here’s one that’s also worth supporting.

The Long Beach City Council will vote on a $51.3 million contract to build the Studebaker Road Complete Streets Project — which looks to be a transformational redesign — at today’s 5 pm council meeting.

The Studebaker Road Complete Streets Project brings corridor-wide infrastructure improvements to Studebaker Road, spanning nearly five miles from 2nd Street to Carson Avenue. This initiative aims to enhance mobility, safety, and efficiency for residents and visitors who travel along the corridor.

By building a safer, more accessible active transportation network, the project will transform an area currently dominated by car travel. The corridor connects key destinations, including Long Beach City College, CSULB, McBride High School, Sato Academy, Tincher Prep, El Dorado Park and Library, Alamitos Bay, and the 2nd and PCH retail center. These improvements will benefit pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers alike, fostering a safer, healthier, and more inclusive Long Beach.

This project is part of the Elevate ’28 Infrastructure Investment Plan, a historic initiative dedicated to enhancing Long Beach parks, community facilities, mobility access, and streets. Learn more at lbelevate28.com.

Thanks to Joe for the heads-up. 

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Culver City’s annual Pride Ride returns at the end of this month.

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Senior bike racing returns to Pasadena’s El Dorado Park next week.

………

This may just be the photo of the year, capturing the chaos that erupted on LA streets over the weekend.

Los Angeles, 2025📸 afpphoto

— Bicicleteiros (@bicicleteiros.bsky.social) 2025-06-09T17:58:55.987Z

………

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

Apparently, thinking traffic safety advice that only stresses bike helmets and hi-viz kinda misses the point — “like telling women to wear long skirts for their safety” — is somehow “woke” in the minds of people who don’t seem to have any idea what “woke” means.

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

An Austin, Texas woman is looking for the hit-and-run ebike rider who crashed into her bicycle, leaving her with seven broken bones in her wrist and foot.

A British parody account reminds us that it’s always the bike rider’s fault.

………

Local 

A new UCLA study based on data from cities around the world shows that increasing density and making streets safer and more comfortable for active transportation are the best predictors of high walking and biking rates, while simultaneously reducing traffic deaths, air pollution and stress for road users.

 

State

A 55-year old Santa Rosa woman is in life-threatening condition after a pickup driver somehow couldn’t manage to avoid someone he admitted to police he saw riding her bicycle in a crosswalk.

 

National

Marketplace says the bike industry is finally adjusting to the disruptions that began with the Covid bike boom, followed by the post-Covid bike bust.

GQ recommends the best bike helmets. Because who would know better how to protect your skull than <checks notes> a fashion magazine?

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — a 700-mile bikepacking route crossing the entire state of Washington.

Great idea. An Oklahoma City bike club is changing lives by taking elementary and middle school students on afterschool bicycling field trips around the city.

People For Bikes looks at the Arkansas Global Cycling Accelerator, a Bentonville startup accelerator focusing on helping bicycle businesses succeed and grow.

Chicago could get a new rail trail, after local residents halted a freeway on the site.

A Minnesota broadcaster somehow feels the need to remind scofflaw bike riders that they, too, are subject to traffic laws — but only for their own safety! — as if only people required to take a driving test would know that.

After two-and-a-half years of work, a Detroit man and his son finished their own DIY “Captain America” ebike, patterned after the chopper ridden by Peter Fonda in Easy Rider.

An innocent person once again paid the price for a police chase, after a 68-year old Philadelphia man was injured when a cop chasing a driver crashed into his bicycle, as well as the suspect vehicle, after following the driver into a bike lane; fortunately, the victim was hospitalized in stable condition.

A Florida man learned the hard way that it’s probably not the best idea to steal a bicycle from a police detective’s son.

 

International

Women in West Yorkshire, England don’t feel safe riding their bikes, due to “verbal abuse, sexual comments and motorists passing too close.” In other words, like women nearly everywhere else.

A British bus driver will spend the next four years behind bars for killing a nine-year old girl riding her bike on the sidewalk — yes, the sidewalk — after falling asleep behind the wheel while high on drugs.

A driver in the UK demonstrates that there are all kinds of distracted driving.

America’s hit-and-run epidemic has spread to India, where two college students were both killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding their bicycles to campus in Uttar Pradesh.

 

Competitive Cycling

It was a good weekend for Belizean cyclists, as one rider from the country won the elite Tulsa Tough crit, while another made the podium with a 3rd place finish in the masters Punta Cana Grand Prix in the Dominican Republic.

Evidently, it doesn’t take a magician to make a cyclist disappear.

 

Finally…

When life gives you bike lanes, use ’em to prop up the bike boosting your business. That feeling when a six-year old ad featuring a dated bike hero pops up with no context or explanation.

And if you can’t even drive a shopping cart, always blame the bike for getting in your way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07gAa_ZyWO0&t=10s

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA tripping over transportation for ’28 Olympics, and New York cops dismiss kite string that severely injured bike rider

June 9, 2025 / / One comment
Day 160 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

No surprise here.

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez says the city is tripping over itself in the lead-up to the 2028 Olympics — including being behind on planned transportation improvements.

And that’s after Metro has already backed off on several improvements originally promised in the Twenty-Eight by ’28 plan, including adding more bus and bike lanes, as well as completing the LA River Bike Path before the Games.

Meanwhile, People For Bikes listed their top priorities for the coming year. starting with redefining electric motorbikes, which are too often confused with ebikes, and improving standards for lithium-ion batteries.

But they also listed reimagining LA’s transportation system in time for the Games.

Looking ahead to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, and following two major wins in 2024 at the city and state levels, PeopleForBikes is working alongside local advocates and bike companies to champion an overhaul of Los Angeles’ transportation system to include more safe and connected bike infrastructure. Leveraging the attention on and injection of funding into Los Angeles ahead of 2028, we are proud to support the Festival Trail, a multimodal network that links and expands on existing projects to connect residents and visitors to LA28 venues and several of Los Angeles’ famous attractions without needing a car. We are also advocating for mobility hubs that feature bike share stations and bike parking at major transit stations. At the state level, we supported legislation that would provide $3.5 billion for active transportation projects in Los Angeles.

These investments in preparation for the Olympics can benefit Los Angeles far beyond 2028 by supporting mobility opportunities for all Angelenos, particularly in communities that have been historically underserved by public transportation. This is also a chance to show that transformation in one of America’s most car-centric cities is possible and provide a model for other cities to transform their transportation networks to cater the needs of all road users, regardless of whether people walk, ride a bike, take transit, or drive a car.

Let’s hope they can get something done.

Because the city hasn’t given us any reason to believe they can do it on their own.

Logo for LA ’28 from Wikipedia. 

………

Police in New York bizarrely concluded no one broke the law when a man was was nearly killed by an apparent kite string as he was riding a bicycle.

He required multiple transfusions to replace the blood lost when the string slit his throat, severing his windpipe, even though it seems unlikely that a normal kite string could do that kind of damage.

People who were riding with him suggested that the string could have been intentionally strung across the bike lane, or that it could have been coated with glass for kite fighting.

A woman was also injured when the string struck her hand and forehead, moments before injuring the man, who was riding just behind her.

………

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

The bicycling community in Wellington, New Zealand is fighting back against whoever has been scattering tacks on bikeways for the past decade, offering free puncture repairs and sweeping up tacks and other objects with magnets.

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

Irate Salt Lake City drivers complained about getting stuck for multiple light cycles and surrounded by angry bicyclists during a growing, weekly bike ride, as motorists honked, called the riders names and yelled at them to obey the law. Someone should at least teach that group how and when to properly cork an intersection.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Streetsblog says AB 891, California’s Quick-Build Project Pilot Program, is a third of the way home after passing the state Assembly; now it needs to pass in the state Senate and survive Newsom’s overactive veto pen.

A San Francisco man faces a felony hit-and-run charge for last month’s crash that seriously injured a 5-year-old girl riding her bike with her mother. Although under California’s lenient hit-and-run penalties, he’ll face no more than four years behind bar — which will likely by plea bargained down to a slap on the wrist. 

Sad news from Northern California, where a 13-year old girl was killed by a driver while riding an ebike in a South Lake Tahoe crosswalk.

An estimated 2,100 people turned out for the 32nd annual America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride around Lake Tahoe, with rides up to 100 miles to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

 

National

Wired offers advice on how to buy a bike helmet, while a Pittsburgh paper considers how often you should replace it.

Some rare tariff good news, as Chinese-made bike helmets and aluminum-frame bicycle trailers maintain their exemptions until the end of August.

An Oregon man encountered a turtle while riding his bicycle, which initially played dead before scrambling off the pavement. Unfortunately, that tactic seldom helps bike riders escape threats from drivers.

Oregon Republicans want to rip away funding currently directed to rail, transit, bicycle and walking projects, and redirect it to the State Highway Fund to benefit the people in cars at the expense of everyone else.

Pink Bike offers more information on the delayed opening of Idaho’s Panhandle Bike Ranch, after a judge jerked the park’s conditional use permit just ten days before its planned opening.

Trump’s funding freeze is putting at risk $6.3 million previously approved by the Biden administration to close gaps in a 230-mile pedestrian and biking corridor between Butte and the Idaho border, part of Great American Rail-Trail route.

Bicyclists Colorado State University in my bike-friendly hometown held the second annual Ollie’s Ride for Change, including a Pokemon-themed bike parade, to remember a ten-year old boy killed by a distracted driver while riding his bike in a nearby town; the woman behind the wheel was sentenced to a lousy year behind bars after she was convicted of careless driving.

Bowling Green, Kentucky got its first green lane, but for biking not bowling.

No surprise here, either, as Nashville advocates issue their first State of Our Streets report, calling for more walking paths and protected bike lanes, as well as including quick-build projects as part of the city’s Vision Zero plan.

As the NYPD continues its misguided crackdown on scofflaw bike riders by issuing criminal summonses instead of traffic tickets, the state legislature considers a Stop As Yield law, aka Idaho Stop Law, that would legalize treating stop signs as yields, and red lights as stop signs, taking away tools they use to for pretextual stops and to target riders. California isn’t likely to get one until Gavin Newsom leaves office, since he’s already vetoed it twice.

Sad news from Charlotte, Virginia, where the 73-year old father of a local traffic safety advocate was killed when he was struck by a semi driver while riding the recumbent bike he used to maintain his independence.

Good news from Melbourne, Florida, where 15-year old boy reclaimed the bicycle he inherited from his dad, who died of Covid, after it was stolen while he was working as a lifeguard; he got it back with the help of his swim coach and the local police, as well as hundreds of people who shared the news on Facebook.

 

International

Bike riders in Halifax, Nova Scotia accuse the mayor of scapegoating bicyclists and backing out of campaign promises by calling for halting bike lane construction, pending a review on congestion and costs.

A Canadian columnist says no, a ringing bike bell doesn’t mean you have to get the hell out of the way — and if someone on a bike hits you, sue ’em.

A new research report indicates that young adults aged 25-34 are driving the rising popularity of ebikes in Britain.

Something doesn’t add up in the UK, where two men face murder and attempted murder charges for the alleged hit-and-run death of a 16-year old boy who recently arrived from Yemen, striking the teen as he was walking after first crashing into an ebike rider — raising questions of why police think the act was intentional and who was the intended target.

She gets it. A Belgian writer wants to know why an unlicensed DUI driver was released by police after killing someone riding a bicycle, asking what’s the message that sends about accountability on the country’s roads.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in Cyprus, where a 42-year old driver walked with a lousy $1,370 fine for killing a 62-year old man riding a bicycle while traveling at nearly twice the posted speed limit, and was banned from driving for five whole weekends.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-four-year old Kiwi cyclist Ally Wollaston says she’s overwhelmed after a final stage sprint gave her the overall victory in the women’s Tour of Britain, edging out previous tour leader Cat Ferguson by four seconds.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your classic space-age bicycle looks more like an oversized pizza cutter. Now you, too, can have horns coming out of your bike helmet, or maybe a banana.

And when you’re a convicted felon riding at night with illegal narcotics and a loaded firearm, stay in your lane and put a damn light on it.

The bike, that is, not the lane. Or the gun.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Slap on wrist for road raging driver who brake-checked paracycling champ, and “Bicycle Thieves” star dies at 85

June 6, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 157 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Life is cheap in New Zealand.

A road raging driver got just two lousy months of community detention — think curfews and electronic monitoring — and a year of probation for brake-checking two-time paracycling world champ Eltje Malzbender as she was training with a friend on a three-wheeled bike in 2020.

Brian David Mills pled guilty to cutting them off with his van and jamming on the brakes, after yelling “get off the road you fucking bastards,” then fleeing without stopping.

Malzbender took the brunt of the impact on her head, but was lucky to escape with relatively minor injuries.

The judge imposed the lenient sentence, despite what was described as Mills’ “sporadic history of careless driving and violence offenses” stretching back to the late 1980s.

Mazbender recovered in time to compete in the Tokyo Paralympics a year later.

She used paracycling to recover after she was left for dead on the side of the road by another hit-and-run driver in 2016, suffering a traumatic brain injury that left her with lasting injuries including loss of short term memory, co-ordination and the ability to speak.

There’s a special place in hell for anyone who would deliberately injure any disabled person, regardless of what a judge says.

Or should be, anyway.

………

Sad news from Italy, where Enzo Staiola, who played the soulful-eyed son in the 1948 Italian cinematic masterpiece Bicycle Thieves, died in a Roman hospital.

The 85-year old Staiola was just eight-years old and had never acted before when the director literally plucked him off the street to star in the film.

He retired from acting just seven years and a dozen films later, performing with stars like Gina Lollobrigida and Marcello Mastroianni, as well as in the iconic Barefoot Contessa with Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner.

Staiola’s death was attributed to complications from a fall.

………

You’ve got to be kidding.

The parents of a seven-year old North Carolina boy have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, after he was killed by a driver while walking home from a nearby grocery store with his ten-year old brother.

Just because they let the kids walk a whole two blocks without adult supervision — for the first time.

But the 76-year old driver gets a walk, because police said it was just an “oopsie.”

“In such cases, adults must be held accountable for their responsibilities to ensure a safe environment for their children,” police said in a statement.

As long as the adult in question isn’t operating a motor vehicle, apparently. Or responsible for designing a dangerous roadway.

………

Gravel Bike California explores the bike culture at the Cub House LA Invitational Bike and Car Show + Swap Meet.

………

Metro Bike reminds you about their free half-hour bikeshare rides this weekend.

https://twitter.com/BikeMetro/status/1930656190490427703

………

Mercedes-Benz unveils their new ebike.

No, literally.

………

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

Ab Oklahoma City man was apparently murdered by a road raging driver, after the 37-year old driver was found dead in the street with a gunshot wound, as police concluded he was killed after a confrontation while riding his bicycle.

………

Local 

Long Beach may have a speed limit on the city’s popular beach bike path, but there’s no record of police actually enforcing it for the past five years.

 

State

The Bike East Bay advocacy group installed a popup safety project to reimagine safer streets in Berkeley.

A pair of San Francisco petitions are calling for protecting transit funding from Newsom’s budget cuts, and keeping the currently car-free Market Street from reverting into a “traffic-choked car-sewer” after the mayor allows driverless Waymo vehicles in.

Sacramento is proposing a lane reduction for a street on the city’s High Injury Network, removing two lanes to slow traffic while adding a center turn lane and bike lanes; the city is also planning a two-mile bike and pedestrian project along another street.

 

National

Wired recommends the best bike lights.

A Detroit children’s charity is partnering with Target to give away 180 bicycles to kids in need.

Good for them. A couple of Michigan men are planning to ride 3,400 miles from Grand Rapids to Los Angeles, hoping to raise $50,000 to benefit LA firefighters.

Kentucky bike shops are already getting hit with Trump’s tariffs, with prices climbing 10% to 30% in recent days.

A “modern-day Paul Revere” plans to ride his bike to every Boston Dunkin’ today, eating a Dunkin’ Munchkin at all 92 locations, and covering 80 miles while consuming 5,000 calories to mark National Donut Day.

Lyft will install speedometers on New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare in response to the mayor’s “emergency” order imposing a 15 mph speed limit for ebikes, but will leave it up to riders to actually obey it. Meanwhile, a letter writer says the crackdown was needed, because you can’t expect New Yorkers to look both ways before crossing a street.

It takes a real schmuck to steal the bike a Florida teenager inherited from his dead father.

 

International

Sixty-four-year-old former pro cyclist Luis “Lucho” Herrera voluntarily appeared before Colombian prosecutors yesterday to answer allegations from two former paramilitary members that he paid them about $9,700 to kill four of his neighbors 2002, because the four men refused to sell him their farmland; Herrera won the 1987 Vuelta, and was the first Colombian to win a stage in the Tour de France.

A group of British conservation volunteers are accused of leaving a forest a mess, while sending a message that bikes and kids aren’t welcome, after digging up an unauthorized mountain bike track in a Sheffield nature preserve.

The milk of human kindness must be running low in Singapore, where Facebook users were quick to blame a bike-riding victim after she was struck by a left-turning driver, whose view was obscured by a stopped delivery van.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling News offers a streaming guide to watch pro cycling in the US this month.

Canadian cyclist Derek Gee celebrated his 4th place finish in the Giro by spending the next three days in bed, but with the added confidence of knowing he can now ride with the best.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have to pay 50 bucks for your free bike storage — okay, make it five. Or when a bike lane becomes a garbage lane.

And tell the jury they can come in late, because there’s a bike ride going on.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Is something rotten in the state of Metro, make Warner Center more bikeable, and help spend OC Measure M funds

June 5, 2025 / / No comments
Day 156 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

To paraphrase the bard, something may be rotten in the state of Metro.

LA Public Press reports that formal complaints filed by Metro Bike operator BTS, aka Bicycle Transit Systems, accuses transit agency officials of violating procurement laws and creating conflicts of interest to favor ride-hailing giant Lyft.

BTS alleges Metro was set to award Lyft a nearly $200 million contract to operate the city’s bikeshare system after illegally structuring the bid to benefit  Lyft.

On May 22, the Metro Board of Directors was set to approve Lyft’s $198 million proposal to operate Metro Bike Share, a countywide rental system of 1,800 public bikes.

But the board removed the scheduled vote from the meeting agenda after BTS alleged in a “protest” letter filed May 14 that a Lyft subcontractor wrote a section of the county’s request for proposals for the Metro Bike Share contract. BTS claims the subcontractor’s involvement could have given the ride-hailing company an unfair advantage. BTS filed a second protest letter on May 20 naming the subcontractor and alleging broader issues with Metro’s procurement process.

It’s possible this is nothing more than a last-ditch effort by BTS and Metro Bike union members to retain the contract they’ve held since 2016.

But if there’s any truth to it, we deserve to know.

And something needs to be done to ensure a level playing field, and guarantee they select the best people for the job.

………

Here’s your chance to help make car-centric Warner Center more bikeable and walkable, as Los Angeles moves forward with plans to remake the current office desert.

The city is looking for feedback at the Woodland Hills Farmers Market on June 21st, a short walk or bike ride from the Sherman Way G (Orange) Line Station.

HELP SHAPE THE WARNER CENTER ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION HUB

The Warner Center Active Transportation Hub project supports the transformation of the Warner Center area into an active transportation hub for jobs and housing. Active transportation includes walking, biking, scootering or using a wheelchair – any form of human-powered mobility.

Thanks to everyone who was able to join us at the Open House! If you missed it, check out the meeting presentation online.

ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO CONNECT

Visit Our Booth at the Woodland Hills Farmers Market

Saturday, June 21, 2025 | 9 am – 2 pm

5650 Shoup Ave., Woodland Hills, CA 91367

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Drop by and tell us

  • What would make you want to walk, bike, or roll more often in Warner Center area?
  • What challenges need to be addressed?
  • Your input will shape future solutions.
CAN’T ATTEND IN PERSON?

Take our 10-minute survey!

………

As long as we’re on the subject of public meetings, the Orange County Transportation Authority, aka OCTA, wants to know how you want to spend Measure M transportation funds.

Annual Measure M Hearing set for June 10 to Ensure Accountability of Taxpayer Funds for Transportation

Taxpayer Oversight Committee will hold its 34th public hearing to ensure transportation funding is being delivered as promised to Orange County voters

ORANGE – The Taxpayer Oversight Committee will hold its 34th annual public hearing to ensure that Measure M, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements, is being delivered as promised to Orange County voters.

This year’s public hearing is scheduled for:

6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10, at the Orange County Transportation Authority headquarters, 550 S. Main St. in Orange.

The independent, 11-member oversight committee was formed to monitor OCTA’s use of Measure M funding, approve all changes to the Measure M Transportation Investment Plan, and hold annual public hearings on the expenditure of funds generated by the half-cent sales tax. The original measure was first approved by voters in 1990 and overwhelmingly renewed in 2006.

The renewed Measure M is continuing to fund balanced and sustainable transportation improvements through 2041, estimated to invest approximately $14 billion in all. The voter-approved plan allocates 43% of funds to freeways, 32% to streets and roads, and 25% to transit, and includes two environmental programs focused on preserving natural habitats and improving water quality through stormwater capture systems.

The first Measure M helped fund more than $4 billion worth of transportation improvements. These include enhanced freeways, smoother streets, synchronized traffic signals, improved intersections, and regional Metrolink rail service – which continues to be funded by Measure M.

OCTA remains committed to relieving congestion, maintaining infrastructure, expanding travel choices for seniors and people with disabilities, and protecting the environment.

Measure M also supports projects that reduce travel times, improve safety, and coordinate traffic signal systems across cities.

Those unable to attend the public hearing can submit comments by visiting octa.net/PublicHearing.

All written comments must be submitted by noon on Monday, June 9.

Written comments may be addressed to:

Andrea West
Clerk of the Board
Orange County Transportation Authority
550 South Main Street
P.O. Box 14184
Orange, CA 92683-1584

By phone at (714) 560-5611

Or by email at clerkoffice@octa.net.

For more information about Measure M or the Taxpayer Oversight Committee, visit octa.net/TOC.

………

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

A San Diego letter writer says the San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG’s, approval of a $27 million Complete Streets project to reconfigure University Ave “proved once again that it is run by a consortium of incompetents.” Because he recently drove to Balboa Park without seeing a single bus in the bus lane, or a bike in the bike lane, which apparently serves as conclusive proof no one ever uses them.

No bias here. An Idaho county judge jerked back the permit for a bike park, just ten days before it was due to open, after the owners had built a network of world-class mountain bike trails on their own dime.

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

A visitor to the Boston suburb of Somerville says they were nearly struck by reckless bike riders three times just trying to cross a street, requiring “evasive maneuvers that would make a Cirque du Soleil performer break a sweat.” Although commenters said having to take a step back isn’t the same as getting hit, and oddly, they’ve never had a problem there.

They’ve got a point. A British bike advocacy group urged Parliament to reconsider a plan for on-the-spot fines equivalent to $677 for bicycling violations in pedestrian zones, arguing that the considerate bike riders are easy to catch, while speedy and/or aggressive anti-social ones will get away scot-free.

………

Local 

Caltrans is resurfacing a 20-mile stretch of PCH through the harbor area — likely without building the bike lanes and pedestrian improvements required under the state’s Complete Streets policy — ensuring this stretch of LA’s killer highway will remain that way.

 

State

Thousands of people came out last weekend for Irvine’s second annual CicloIrvine open streets event.

Wrightwood’s Mountain High Resorts will open a new downhill mountain bike park on June 14th.

Sad news from Merced, where a 27-year old man riding a BMX bike was killed by a hit-and-run driver, who later called police to say he had hit “something;” police blamed the victim’s black clothing and a lack of reflectors, saying the driver was unable to see him from behind on the dark street.

West Sacramento is considering a Vision Zero plan with a goal of cutting traffic deaths in half over the next decade. Which is laudable, but half ain’t zero — which is what the “zero” in Vision Zero means. 

 

National

Outside broke out the angle grinder to pick the year’s best bike locks.

A Las Vegas bike shop owner, and former Republican candidate for governor, is working to educate customers about the effects of tariffs that increase the cost of bikes and parts from China, while limiting availability.

A 16-year old Albuquerque, New Mexico boy, the oldest of the four kids charged with fatally running down a Los Alamos scientist in a stolen car as he was biking to work, will remain in custody pending trial after a judge ruled she couldn’t ensure public safety if he was released. No shit.

Ohio will invest nearly $52 million dollars in bike and pedestrian safety projects over the next four years, funding 44 projects in 33 counties.

An unsigned op-ed by “avid cyclists” says Boston’s “willy-nilly installation of bike lanes is the epitome of virtue-signaling,” and that encouraging senior citizens to use bikes as a means of transportation “is tantamount to inviting them to die or suffer serious injuries,” insisting they’re not being hyperbolic. Although it’s worth noting that Boston has an average of seven bicycling deaths per year affecting people of all ages, which makes it seem kinda hyperbolic.

A man and woman were injured when they crashed into a kite string while riding in a bike lane on bridge in Brooklyn, slicing the woman’s hand and forehead, while slitting the man’s throat; the string appeared to be coated in glass like the kind used for kite fighting in South Asian countries. A crowdfunding campaign to help pay the man’s medical bills has raised just over $4,500 of the $15,000 goal.

New York City will impose a 15 mph speed limit on ebike and scooter riders on city streets, forcing people on ebikes, including delivery riders, to go slower than someone on a decent road bike.

An upstate New York man was welcomed back to his Pennsylvania adjacent town after spending the last year riding over 13,000 miles circumnavigating the US, sponsored by the American Cancer Society.

A neighborhood group filed suit to stop Philadelphia from installing cement barriers to protect a bike lane, even though a bike-riding pediatric physician was killed there last year by a driver who drove through the current plastic bollards.

 

International

The dangerous trend of young bike riders popping wheelies and swerving into traffic has spread to the Caribbean’s Cayman Islands, according to a local website.

Irish Customs seized more than 4,000 ebikes worth more than $5.1 million alleged to have been illegally smuggled into the country to avoid European Union duty charges.

An Indian website says bicycling in the coastal state of Goa could be riskier than you think, due to reckless drivers and stray animals.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from the Tour of Iran, where 21-year old Mustafa Ayyorkun, a two-time Türkiye — formerly Turkey — junior road race champion died four days after suffering a broken neck when he collided with a teammate.

 

Finally…

When you’re carrying a dollar bill and a lottery ticket with a white powdery substance on your bike, don’t ride salmon.

And who wouldn’t want a dart board on your bike?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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