Tag Archive for Los Angeles

Your Monday morning tour through the weird, wacky and wonderful world of bicycling

August 5, 2013 / / One comment

Just a brief — or not so brief, as it turns out — update from the world of bicycling.

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La Opinion examines LA’s ghost bikes — or bicicletas fantasmas — and quotes yours truly on this year’s very scary stats.

Evidently, I am now un activista.

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Get ready to get run over. The LAPD has decided it’s no longer a crime to drive without a license. Violators can still be ticketed, but will no longer be arrested or face felony or misdemeanor charges if they don’t have a license for the vehicle they’re driving.

Yeah, let’s not do anything to hold unlicensed drivers accountable or get them off the streets.

It’s not like they can suspend the licenses of dangerous drivers who don’t have one.

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Yet another bike rider has been injured on the Marina’s Fiji Way, which, anecdotally at least, seems to be one of the area’s more dangerous places to ride a bike, even with the new semi-buffered bike lanes.

And even if the description of the collision doesn’t make any sense.

According to Marina del Rey Patch, an 85-year old woman pulled out of her parking stall at 13737 Fiji Way, which places her in the parking lot at Marina Village (photo pre-bike lane). After waiting for another car, she pulled out of the lot and into a bike/walk path, hitting a cyclist.

Except there is no bike/walk path there.

There’s a sidewalk for pedestrians, and an on-road bike lane for bike riders — which is, presumably, where the victim was riding.

Unless he was on the sidewalk. Or riding through the parking lot, which would explain what the hell pulling out of a parking stall in a parking lot has to do with hitting someone on a bike.

Let alone what waiting for another car to move has to do with anything.

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After a San Jose priest is killed just short of his goal of biking 100,000 miles, parishioners ride in his honor to complete the goal for him. Thanks to Cyclelicious for the heartwarming story.

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KNBC-4 tackles bike theft and busts a ring of thieves; thanks to Sam Winkler for the heads-up.

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Scotland’s new Nice Way Code tells drivers to treat you like a horse — evidently Scots are more familiar with horses than those strange two-wheeled conveyances — and that if any bike riders runs a red, it makes us all look bad.

Right.

And when any motorist runs a red, it reflects badly on everyone behind the wheel, and justifies whatever hostility you want to spew on those law-abiding drivers who haven’t done anything wrong.

Nice way, my ass.

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Speaking of the nice way, Elly Blue says if you ever feel like yelling at a cyclist — even just a friendly warning — don’t. Just don’t.

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Tomorrow’s scheduled meeting of the Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee has been moved up to tonight at 7 pm to avoid a scheduling conflict.

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In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, bike race volunteers now must be anti-terrorism experts, as well.

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And speaking of terrorism, a father tries to teach is seven-year old daughter to ride a bike on a quiet side street. And both get hit by a drunk driver. At noon, no less.

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In one of the most bizarre accidents I’m aware of, a 10-year old boy in Nepal is killed when the brake on his bike breaks, sending a fragment through his eye and piercing his brain.

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This is why dooring can be deadly.

A Chinese woman barely avoids being thrown under a passing truck when the driver of an SUV unexpectedly throws open the door. In the video, she appears to hit her head on the truck’s rear wheel, sending her helmet — or is it a hat? — tumbling.

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One quick thought on Saturday’s horrific assault on the Venice boardwalk, in which a homicidal driver killed an Italian tourist on her honeymoon and injured 11 others — apparently intentionally.

We screen gun buyers in this country — even if there are a lot of gaps in the system. But we let anyone who can pass a simple test get a drivers license and own or operate a motor vehicle.

Maybe that needs to change.

We have to recognize that a motor vehicle can be a deadly weapon in the wrong hands. And some people simply shouldn’t be allowed to drive, for any number of reasons.

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Finally, congratulations to Velo Club La Grange for pulling off another great Brentwood Gran Prix. Nice to spend a perfect LA day watching high-quality bike racing on the Westside.

Midway through the men's Cat 3 race

Midway through the men’s Cat 3 race

Category: General / Tags: , , , , ,

LA’s hit-and-run bike body count climbs; Lakewood Sunday Funday and Brentwood Grand Prix

August 3, 2013 / / One comment

Add another name to SoCal’s climbing bike body count.

It made the news all over town when 18-year old Inglewood High School star athlete Markeis Vonreece Parish was killed in a hit-and-run while crossing the street at Crenshaw and 78th Place last month.

What I missed at the time, or the stories I read failed to mention, was that he was walking his bike in an unmarked crosswalk when he was hit by a speeding Mercedes with enough force to send his body sliding a full block to 79th Street, and stripping him of his clothes as he skidded across the pavement.

And even though he was identified as a pedestrian at the time, that makes him more than just another notch in the seemingly endless epidemic of hit-and-runs plaguing Los Angeles and other Southern California cities.

It makes him one of us.

And I apologize for the delay in acknowledging that.

The collision occurred at 6:15 pm on Saturday, July 20th; the car was found less than an hour later, roughly two miles away at Imperial Highway and Spinning Avenue. To the best of my knowledge, no arrest has been made, despite reports that the identity of the driver is common knowledge within the community.

This is the 55th bike-related fatality in Southern California this year, and the 24th in Los Angeles County; that compares to 23 in LA County for all of last year.

It’s also the 9th bicycling death in the City of Los Angeles, compared to five in each of the previous two years. And it’s the 13th fatal hit-and-run involving a bike rider in Southern California since the first of the year; eight of those have occurred in LA County — seven in the City of LA.

My sympathy and prayers for Markeis Parish and all his family and loved ones.

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Bike Talk airs every Saturday at 10 am; listen to it live or download the podcast from KPFK.

Bike Long Beach hosts Bike Saturdays every weekend; ride your bike to participating local shops and business throughout the city to get special offers and discounts.

CD4 Council Member Tom LaBonge hosts his annual Tour LaBonge each Wednesday through August 17th.

Metro continues to offer a series of free bike safety classes throughout the LA area, including classes this weekend in Downey, Hacienda Heights and Culver City, as well as a Spanish language class Monday in Azusa.

There will be a memorial ride for San Diego cycling legend Gordie Shields today at 9 am, starting at Pepper Park, 3299 Tidelands Ave in National City.

The next edition of the LACBC’s Sunday Funday Rides takes place this Sunday, August 4th, with a Lakewood Family ride led by board member Steve Boyd. The easy ride along the San Gabriel River Bike Path offers options of six and 18 miles, returning along PCH. The ride is free for LACBC members and a guest; meet at Del Valle Park, 5939 Henrilee Street at 9:30 am, rolling at 12:30 pm.

The best of California bike racing comes to LA on Sunday, August 4th when the Brentwood Grand Prix rolls through the streets of the Westside with the SCNCA Elite State Criterium Championships. The racing starts at 7 am and continues through the Women’s Cat 1 – 3 and Men’s Cat 1 – 2 at 2:15 pm and 3:15 pm, respectively. And you won’t want to miss the kid’s races at 12:45 pm.

The Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee meets at 7 pm on the first Tuesday of each even-numbered month; the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 6th at the Hollywood Neighborhood City Hall Community Room, 6501 Fountain Ave.

The USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships returns to the bike-unfriendly StubHub Center in Carson next weekend, with events starting Friday, August 9th and continuing through Sunday the 11th.

Downtown Long Beach will host its inaugural Bike Drive-In starting at 6 pm on Saturday, August 10th in the parking lot across from Fingerprints Music at the intersection of Fourth and Elm streets. The evening will feature live music from three bands, followed by the bike-centric animated feature, The Triplets of Belleville.

The Planning Committee of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition hosts a panel discussion on What Do Elected Officials Want to Hear on Thursday, August 22nd at 7 pm in the Edison Room on the 1st Floor of LACBC Headquarters, 634 S. Spring Street. Free for LACBC members, $10 for non-members.

The second annual Clitoral Mass — yes, you read that right — women’s ride rolls on Saturday, August 24th from 4 pm to midnight. Riders assemble at Watts Towers, 1765 E. 107th Street.

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition’s Civic Engagement Committee meets at 6:45 pm on the last Tuesday of each month to discuss how to elect and influence bike-friendly politicians. The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, August 27th, site TBD. The meetings are open to everyone, and you don’t have to be an LACBC member to participate; email bikinginla at hotmail dot com to be added to the discussion list.

Here’s your chance to bike the famed Las Vegas strip and the surrounding Las Vegas Valley, with the 6th Annual RTC Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo Pinarello on Saturday, September 21st. The event will offer routes for riders of all levels, from a 17-mile ride to 60-mile Metric Century and a 103-mile Gran Fondo; the longer rides will visit the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and Lake Mead.

Bike SGV invites you to join them for their 2013 Awards Ceremony and Fundraiser on Saturday, September 28th from 5 pm to 11 pm at the San Gabriel Mission Grapevine Arbor, 320 South Mission Drive in San Gabriel.

CicLAvia returns to an expanded version of the original Heart of LA route on Sunday, October 6th.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bike Events, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Ignoring road rage in Santa Rosa, San Diego cyclists targeted, and LAPD accused of beating bike rider

July 31, 2013 / / 3 comments

Talk about the charges not fitting the crime.

A Santa Rosa driver identified as 22-year old Matthew Dewayne Hamilton is under arrest on a felony hit-and-run charge for what police describe as an accidental collision stemming from a roadway dispute.

According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Hamilton barely missed hitting a cyclist, who responded by yelling at him. So Hamilton backed up to continue the argument, colliding with the rider in the process.

Right.

It evidently wasn’t assault with a deadly weapon from their windshield perspective, even though the rider, who has not been publicly identified, suffered several broken bones, as well as internal injuries. And even though they themselves describe it as a road rage incident, police insist the driver just wanted to chat, if angrily.

Of course.

Then, realizing his error after plowing into the rider with enough force to cause significant injuries, Hamilton stomped on the gas and fled the scene, abandoning his car nearby. He was arrested while walking through the area.

You know, just another hit-and-run. Not a violent criminal fleeing the scene of his rage-fueled attack.

It’s all in how you look at it, evidently.

Then again, according to the police report, it was the car that was in control of Hamilton at the time of the collision, rather than the other way around.

Thanks to @murphstahoe for the heads-up.

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San Diego cyclists are being targeted by jerks with a pellet gun.

The city’s 10News says police are investigating confirmed attacks in the La Jolla and Mount Soledad areas, as well as possible attacks in the Fiesta Island and Torrey Pines areas.

One woman suffered serious road rash when a pellet penetrated her shoulder and knocked her off her bike.

Police are looking for three men in a black sedan on possible felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

At least San Diego police get the charges right. Although I might argue for a domestic terrorism count.

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San Diego police are also looking for tips in last year’s shooting death of 19-year old bike rider Joseph Hutchins in the City Heights neighborhood. Hutchins was killed the day after his 19th birthday.

A successful tip could earn a reward of up to $1000.

Yeah, that’ll motivate someone.

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A Los Angeles man claims police beat the crap out of him for riding without lights.

According to KCBS-2/KCAL-9, Brian Cisneros was riding to work at the Ralphs market in Marina del Rey last Friday when he was stopped by two LAPD officers at the intersection of Ida and Redwood Avenues.

According to Cisneros, the officers exited their car with guns drawn and attacked him in a brutal assault that included choking, stomping and throwing him onto the hood of their car, despite his lack of resistance.

Then left him there with a ticket for not having lights while riding after dark.

Clearly, something violent happened.

Cisneros, who says he thought he was going to die, was treated for a dislocated shoulder and a fractured elbow, among other injuries. And looks like someone who took a serious beating in the photos that accompany the report.

But something tells me there’s more to the story.

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Manhattan Beach Patch offers the most detailed report yet on Manhattan Beach school board member Bill Fournell, the bike rider violently assaulted in an apparent attempt to steal his bike on the Ballona Creek bike path on July 19th.

The attack took place around 6 pm, one of the busiest periods on the pathway, as bike commuters use it as a virtual bike freeway connecting Culver City with the coast.

Fournell suffered a broken collarbone, broken ribs and punctured lungs, requiring a five-day stay in the hospital, after one of the assailants threw a bike at his front wheel, then struggled with him for possession of his Litespeed bike.

And Patch finally gives us a location for the attack, saying he was assaulted by three juveniles on the bikeway between the Higuera and Dusquesne bridges.

As others have pointed out, the east end of the bike path is far less used than the western sections. Anytime you ride in a secluded area, out of view of the public or other riders, you need to be alert to your surroundings and any possible risks.

Although three kids with a bicycle on a bike path wouldn’t necessarily look threatening or out of place.

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The LACBC reports the bike plan currently under development by the City of Carson has been watered down in the face of pushback from a pair of large local businesses.

The city’s Watson Land Company has argued that putting bike lanes next to the traffic lanes used by heavy trucks would increase the danger to bike riders.

Maybe someone should tell them that their self-proclaimed commitment to sustainability and philanthropy should extend to our streets.

Never mind that anyone wanting to ride through the city under current conditions already has to share those traffic lanes with those same trucks. And that the studies I’ve seen say bike lanes improve safety for everyone on the road.

Speaking for myself, I’d much rather ride beside a massive truck than in the lane in front of one.

No, far better to maintain the conditions that have already resulted in the death of a bike rider earlier this summer.

At least I can understand, if not accept, where they’re coming from in their desire to maintain the heavy truck hegemony over Carson’s streets.

Far harder to understand is the opposition from the StubHub (nee Home Depot) Center, home to the region’s leading velodrome. You’d think that an athletic center that features indoor bicycling events — including the upcoming USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships — would appreciate the desire of outdoor bicyclists to get there without getting killed.

But evidently, it’s inconceivable to them that bike racing fans, or their other patrons, might actually want to ride a bike there. Or maybe they just want to ensure that people continue drive to maintain that parking revenue.

The LACBC asks you to take action to preserve the Carson bike plan.

Take Action: Tell Carson City Council to preserve the Master Plan of Bikeways’ original intent of having a cycle-track on Albertoni and University, and preserving the proposed bike lanes on Avalon, Watson Center Road, and Wilmington.

If you cannot make the meeting on August 6 at 6 p.m., please call Mayor Dear at 310-952-1700 ext 1000 and email the rest of council at:

jdear@carson.ca.us
myfrancisone@yahoo.comail
lholmes@carson.ca.us
mgipson@carson.ca.us
arobles@carson.ca.us

I’d suggest taking it a step further.

And let the StubHub Center know it’s not acceptable for a bicycling venue to needlessly risk the lives of their bike riding patrons.

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Finally, Apple has evidently decided that American drivers aren’t distracted enough, and wants to incorporate iPhone functions — including texting and email — into car dashboards by the end of this year.

Which means you may be able to thank Steve Job’s successors for the distracted driver who runs you off the road next year.

If you’re still capable of thanking anyone.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, Hit-and-Run, Streets and Infrastructure, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Catching up on the latest news: LA tackles hit-and-run, more on Ballona Creek, off-base bike joke

July 30, 2013 / / 2 comments

It looks like City Council is finally taking LA’s hit-and-run epidemic seriously, including dropping use of the term accident to describe what is clearly a crime.

About time.

Most of the changes, such as increasing penalties for hit-and-run, revoking drivers licenses and seizing vehicles of drivers who flee collisions will have to be made on the state level.

But they’ll have a much better chance of succeeding with the backing of the state’s largest city.

Meanwhile, the city council can charge the LAPD with reprioritizing the crime and improving tracking so we know just how serious the problem really is.

Note to the LA Weekly. Seriously, we appreciate you calling attention to the problem of hit-and-run. But you didn’t discover it, and certainly weren’t the first to write about it. Try not to sprain anything patting yourself on the back.

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More information on the recent attack on a cyclist on the Ballona Creek bike path mentioned here last week.

Turns out the victim was a Manhattan Beach school board member commuting home from his job on Mid-Wilshire; still no exact location where the attack occurred other than Culver City.

Writing for Orange 20 Bikes, Rick Risemberg says the solution is more and better coordinated police patrols, with checks and balances.

Thanks to Paiwei Wei for the link.

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Scotland asks all road users to just be nice and get along; holding hands in a circle and singing Kumbaya is apparently optional. The organization behind it calls the campaign groundbreaking and the first of it’s kind.

Actually, similar “Be Nice” campaigns have been tried all over the world to limited success; local riders don’t seem too impressed.

Even if it does offer an opportunity to show some cute kittens.

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Then there’s this from comedian Neal Brennan:

“Bicycle helmets save lives. Because if you wear one, women will never have sex with you, so you’ll never get AIDS.”

Yeah, hilarious.

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Some jackass — which is the mildest term I can use under the circumstances — took down the Midnight Ridazz website over the weekend; you can help get it back online. Raising funds for Streetsblog’s new Santa Monica edition, Santa Monica Next. Speaking of which, Streetsblog will host a Google Hangout / YouTube discussion of bicycling this Wednesday at 5 pm. How to request repairs for LA City bike paths. No shortage of Hollywood films are coming out about cycling’s fallen seven-time hero. Temple City will remake Las Tunas Drive to de-emphasize cars and make it more attractive for bike riders and pedestrians. Pomona Valley Bikes hosts an all ages ride around Pomona this Saturday.

California’s third attempt at a three-foot passing law is still working it’s way through the state Senate; unfortunately, the clause allowing drivers to safely cross the center line to pass cyclists has been removed. If bike racks aren’t being used, they’re probably in the wrong place. Riverside considers a CicLAvia of their very own. The Press-Enterprise cites the right part of the state vehicle code to describe a bicycle, and still gets it wrong. Huntington Beach bike shop employee describes a chaotic night of fending off Surf City rioters. Eighteen-year old Dublin CA driver charged with killing one cyclist and seriously injuring her husband after losing control at 83 mph; his father was arrested on weapons charges after police searched for evidence in the collision. A look at the artist behind Sacramento’s new bike racks. Looks like the recent rash of bike path robberies has spread to Chico; or maybe it started there.

Evidently, traffic violations are a gateway crime. Seattle city council member suffers a broken shoulder blade when his bike is hit by a careless driver. US Pro Challenge bike art at Denver’s DIA. Not surprisingly, the way to get bike riders to obey traffic signals is to make them bike signals. This isn’t the first time bikes have been fashionable in New York. The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay gets a bike lane in front of his own house. A teenage Brooklyn bike rider is busted twice by the same cop, evidently just for the hell of it. Advancing the technology in the battle to be seen; thanks to George Wolfberg for the heads-up. Bikeyface looks at bike racks that don’t fit, or don’t even exist. Washington’s MLS soccer team will host a bike night this weekend; has any LA sports team ever done that? Looks like anti-bike KY Senator Rand Paul has failed in his latest attempt to strip Federal bike funding.

Ontario doctors say cycling is a necessary part of the cure for the Canadian city’s commuting problem. A London borough proposes to be as bike-friendly as Holland, including a floating bikeway on the Thames. From the country that gave us WAGS comes the latest spat from British cycling’s significant others. Should Britain get a mandatory helmet law? A helmet probably wouldn’t have helped this Brit rider avoid a 16” branch through the throat; on second thought, maybe you don’t want to see that. By now, it should be clear that virtually every pro cyclist doped in the 90s and 00s, as Eric Zabel is the latest to ‘fess up after retiring. A passing Kiwi driver helps save a cyclist who’d been dragged under a truck. How to deal with road raging Aussie drivers.

Finally, the director of the Tour de France calls adding a women’s Tour impossible, which apparently is French for we don’t want to. But at least women will get a five-day Tour of Britain next year.

And if women’s pro cycling is going to succeed, podium girls need to get the boot.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Car vs Bike, General, Hit-and-Run / Tags: , , , , ,

Breaking news — Christine Dahab sentenced to one year in county jail for Culver City 13 collision

July 26, 2013 / / 29 comments

LA bike lawyer Daniel Jimenez, known in the bicycling community as Dj Wheels, reports that Christine Dahab will spend the next year behind bars.

As noted yesterday, Dahab was sentence today at the Airport Courthouse for her role in the Culver City 13 collision, in which 13 riders were injured, some critically; initial reports said 11 riders had been injured.

Dahab was intoxicated and allegedly driving distracted when she plowed into the group of riders taking a break on the side of Jefferson Place, on the border between LA and Culver City. She entered a guilty plea in April, and was ordered to complete a 90-day evaluation period in state prison.

According to Jimenez, after victim impact statements were read today, she was sentenced to an additional 16 months in state prison; however, that was suspended in lieu of 365 days in county jail. She will likely receive credit for the 90 days already served.

The reduced sentence was most likely imposed as a result of California’s current prison overcrowding; the state is sending many prisoners to local jails to comply with a court order to reduce the prison population.

Category: Bikes & the Law, General, Legal Cases / Tags: , ,

Christine Dahab sentencing Friday, LA City Council takes up hit-and-run reform, Gardena police sued

July 26, 2013 / / 3 comments

Just a couple quick notes to wrap up a busy and exhausting day.

First up, a comment from Renee Andreassen sends word that Christine Dahab, the allegedly drunk and distracted driver who plowed into 13 bicyclists on a late night ride in Culver City in 2011, will be sentenced on Friday.

Christine Dahab, who hit 13 bicyclists June 2011 will be sentenced Friday July 26, 2013 at 
West District
Airport Courthouse,
 11701 South La Cienega Blvd.
 Los Angeles, CA 90045
 Dept D

I hope all of the victims will come to give their victim impact statements. 
I would appreciate any assistance this website can get out to those impacted by this horrible event

Dahab pleaded no contest to all charges last April, apparently including DUI causing injury and DWI with a BAC over .08 causing injury.

She was sentenced to a 90-day evaluation period in state prison pending final sentencing. So she’s already spent more time behind bars than most drivers do even in fatal collisions. And could face a lot more.

I have other obligations Friday, so if anyone attends the sentencing, please let us know how it turns out.

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Hit-and-run rears its ugly head once again in L.A. But this time, they may actually do something about it.

From the blog of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition:

The Public Safety Committee will hear the LAPD report on Friday, July 26th at 8:30 AM in City Hall Room 1010.  Please join LACBC in requesting that the City take a leadership role to fix state law to increase penalties for hit-and-run.  You can also write the committee members at councilmember.englander@lacity.org, councildistrict15@lacity.org, councilmember.bonin@lacity.org, and councilmember.ofarrell@lacity.org.

No matter how you parse the numbers — and the LAPD has been roundly criticized for attempting to put the best face on a dismal record — the city ranks at or near the top among major cities for cowardly drivers refusing to take responsibility for their actions behind the wheel.

Fortunately, the department appears to be taking the problem seriously. And they seem to have been listening to me, with recommendations including:

  • Automatic license consequences — hopefully including revocation
  • Possible hold or forfeiture of the vehicle used in the crime
  • More significant consequences, including tougher penalty enhancements
  • Limit civil compromises
  • Extend the statute of limitations for hit-and-runs that result in death or serious injury

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Not surprisingly, Gardena police are being sued for civil rights violations and excessive force in the shooting death of Ricardo Diaz-Zeferino, who was killed by police while trying to help recover his brother’s stolen bicycle.

Diaz-Zeferino reportedly ran up to police as they held guns on two of his friends, shouting in English that they weren’t the thieves, but were trying to help find the bike.

And that’s when they shot him eight times, including twice in the back. As well as hitting one of his friends, resulting in permanent injuries.

Not that they overreacted or anything.

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Finally, the arraignment for Gonzalo Aranguiz Salazar, the driver accused in the death of Cal Poly Pomona bike rider Ivan Aguilar, has been postponed until September.

Salazar faces a single misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. The relatively light charge may reflect the fact that was reportedly Aguilar riding against traffic, as many students do in that location, due to a lack of safe bicycling infrastructure.

Meanwhile, discussions are underway to make much-needed bike and pedestrian safety improvements on campus.

Hopefully before someone else gets killed.

Category: Bikes & the Law, Hit-and-Run, Law Enforcement, Legal Cases / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Embarrassing video shows Sheriff’s deputy doesn’t know what a sharrow is or what it means

July 24, 2013 / / 18 comments

They should be embarrassed.

Or maybe we should, since the LA County Sheriff’s Department is supposed to work for all of us.

Yet as this new YouTube video from WesHigh shows, at least one Sheriff’s Deputy has no idea what a sharrow is. Let alone that bicyclists aren’t required to ride to the ride on a non-sharable lane.

As the video points out, sharrows are not just wayfinding symbols that indicate a Class III bike route, but indicate the preferred position for bike riders within the lane. While you’re not required to ride on the sharrows, if you position yourself on the point of the arrow, you’ll be in the exact spot traffic engineers think you should be within the lane.

Those charged with enforcing the law should know that.

Yet from what I heard from other bike riders, the Deputy’s misconception, while an extreme example, isn’t that unusual for the department.

Many riders have complained about Sheriff’s Deputies demanding that they ride as far as possible to the right, in violation of CVC 21202, which only requires bicyclists to ride as far to the right as practicable. And then, only when traveling below the speed of traffic.

If you’re riding as fast or faster than the vehicles around you, you can legally ride anywhere you damn please, as long as you travel in the direction of traffic.

Yet even if you’re just crawling along, there are countless exceptions to the requirement to ride to the ride — including riding in a non-sharable lane, which is defined as any lane too narrow to share with a motor vehicle. And that includes allowing for sufficient space to avoid the door zone, which is one of those hazards the law refers to.

Which means that virtually every right lane in the Los Angeles area should be considered non-sharable. Especially if it allows parking on the right.

The officer is also mistaken in his insistence that the rider was obstructing traffic. Under California law, that only applies on two lane roadways, and by definition, requires five or more vehicles stuck behind the slower vehicle and unable to pass. If drivers can pass, or if there is another lane to the left they could use to pass if they chose to do so, the rider is not legally obstructing traffic.

As the video shows, this was a four lane street. And drivers were able to pass with ease — including the officer who dangerously chose to speak with a moving cyclist without pulling over to the curb first.

Unfortunately, this brings up a much bigger problem.

While the LAPD has worked with local bike riders to clarify the laws applying to cyclists, and developed a training session to train their officers in just how to — and how not to — enforce traffic laws relating to cyclists, the LASD, to the best of my knowledge, has not.

Just what training their officers receive in bike law isn’t known outside of the department and the officers who actually receive it. Or not.

And while the department may feel their officer training is adequate, this video — and complaints from bike riders around the county suggesting a lack of knowledge and inconsistent enforcement in various areas of the county — would suggest it isn’t.

It’s long past time for the Sheriff’s Department to step up and work with cyclists to ensure their officers understand bike law and enforce it correctly, and fairly.

In the meantime, this video prepared by the LAPD in conjunction cyclists participating in the department’s bike task force remains the state-ot-the-art for bicycle traffic law training among SoCal police agencies.

Even then, it’s only as good as department’s commitment to ensure every officer views it.

And learns it.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bike Cam Video, Bikes & the Law, Law Enforcement / Tags: , , , , , ,

Police seek hit-and-run driver who killed 90-year old bike rider in April

July 23, 2013 / / 11 comments

A bad news day just got that much worse.

The LAPD has just released a dash cam video showing the hit-and-run death of a 90-year old bike rider in graphic detail.

Three months after the fact.

According to a video posted on the department’s YouTube page, Los Angeles resident Joo Yoon was riding in a marked crosswalk on Virgil at 6th Street around 5:10 pm on Saturday, April 27th; judging from the video, he appears to be headed west on 6th.

The light apparently turns green while he’s crossing the street. The bus driver recording the video waits for Yoon to finish crossing, while a driver in the right lane, whose view is apparently obstructed by the bus, blows through and hits the rider, who doesn’t move after the collision. Police report he died at a local hospital shortly afterwards.

The only thing harder to watch than the collision itself are the drivers who casually go around as a man lies dying in the street.

Police are looking for a a newer model Nissan GT-R, gun metal or dark grey, with 3″ white racing strip from front fender to tail light section, possibly on both sides, and damage to the front bumper area and hood — although that was likely fixed some time ago. They are also interested in a second vehicle, possibly a newer model black or dark colored Audi.

The suspect is described as an Asian man about 25-years old, with black hair and brown eyes, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing around 180 to 190 pounds.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD West Traffic Detectives Willmon at (213) 473-0222.

This is the 50th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and 23rd in Los Angeles County, equalling the total for all of last year. It’s also the 8th bicycling death in the City of Los Angeles, which compares with 5 for each of the last two years.

My prayers and sympathy for Joo Yoon and all his loved ones.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

Catching up: Bike art, a real Summer of Cycling rider, and driving on meth without a license

July 22, 2013 / / 4 comments

Let’s catch up with the weekend’s news.

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The 5th Edition of the Santa Monica Museum of Art’s popular Tour de Arts is back on August 18th, as art museums in Portland and around the nation embrace bike culture.

Thanks to Robin Cembelest of ARTNews for the second link.

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The Los Angeles Newspaper Group, home to the Daily News, Daily Breeze, Star-News, et al, finally finds a real bike rider to comment for their so-far far disappointing Summer of Cycling.

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A Palo Alto driver who ran down and gravely injured a 12-year boy riding in a bike lane will face only a single misdemeanor count despite driving with a suspended license and meth in his system.

If you ever wondered why people continue to die on our streets, that’s a damn good place to start.

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Police stop an anti-racism protest run in Westwood, but only the bicyclist accompanying the runners gets arrested, for reasons that remain undisclosed; thanks to Dylan for the heads-up. Then again, it was the cyclists riding for peace who got arrested in Inglewood, too; evidently, activism and pedals don’t go together as far as police are concerned. LADOT Bike Blog reports on the department’s progress to the BAC. Outside Magazine rides with Wolfpack Hustle’s Marathon Crash race. Bike lawyer Joshua Cohen will host a workshop on legal and practical issues for bicyclists on Tuesday at Red 5 Yellow 7. After surviving a helmetless fall, a Santa Monica lawyer wants everyone to wear one. Yes, there will be a second annual Clitoral Mass ride on August 24th. New bike racks are coming to downtown El Segundo; thanks to Margaret for the heads-up. Hermosa Cyclery helps provide a special-needs bike for an 11-year old double stroke victim. Long Beach will host a bike-in movie screening of The Triplets of Belleville on Saturday, August 10th. A new coffee and bike shop opens in Agoura Hills. The first of 30 “Need to Know” bike classes in East LA County kicked off in El Monte Saturday.

CLR Effect reports on the Ontario Grand Prix, including some outstanding racing photos. Bike lanes and sharrows are making life easier for Palm Springs bike riders. It really takes some sort of incredible heartless jerk to steal the ghost bike installed for 12-year old Simi Valley bike victim Jacob Sellers; a ride was held Sunday to re-install it. A 25-year old Santa Cruz cyclist is right hooked by a 95-year old driver, who responds by stepping on the gas instead of the brakes. A bike rider is found dead in a Los Banos canal, and may be the cyclist who was reported missing by his family. A San Francisco musician makes his living playing and pedaling a 325 pound piano bike. Another DUI hit-and-run in San Francisco, but this time, it was the cyclist who was allegedly drunk.

Why are BMW drivers such jerks when it comes to cyclists? A Seattle cyclist loses a thumb in a left cross collision with a drunk driver, who was still on the road despite a prior DUI. A Salt Lake City cop says bike riding is only healthy if you don’t have an SUV parked on top of you; no, seriously, thanks for that astounding insight. The Times says my bike-friendly hometown may be the happiest place on earth; hopefully not just because I don’t live there anymore. Evidently, LA isn’t the only city with a hit-and-run problem, as fleeing killer drivers are common in New Orleans. New York police ticket a cyclist for not running a red light, and add two more for not shutting up; best advice, shut up and take the ticket, then fight it later. Police use a Taser and projectile launcher to take down a Delaware driver following a hit, run, bike and swim. A suspected North Carolina drunk driver plows into a building, then hits a cyclist head-on on an off-road bike path.

The comparison between seat belts and bike helmets doesn’t work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t rock a $960 Gucci bike helmet with built-in sun shield. A British celebrity lawyer calls for making helmets and hi-viz clothing mandatory. No, really, that pub owner was just making a really funny joke to his friends when he threatened to kill bike riders, so lighten up already. An Edinburgh surgeon rides 3,415 miles from LA to Boston. It’s been a very good year for UK cycling. Ireland plans on-the-spot fines for scofflaw cyclists, but don’t plan to punish drunk riders; insert mildly offensive drunken Irish joke here. Tour de France champ Chris Froome gives a backhand to an interfering fan, while Garmin-Sharp rider Jack Bauer suffers severe facial injuries falling into barbed wire. A retiring Jens Voigt attacks for the last time in the Tour de France. On the other hand, women riders could do that, too. Meanwhile, 27 more cyclists face doping charges; good thing the sport has been cleaned up, right?

Finally, at best, bicycling is slowing your rate of decay compared to your former classmates. And a UK man doesn’t remember killing his friend and dismembering his body, although that’s the sort of thing you’d think would stick with you. But at least he used a bike to get rid of the body parts.

Category: General / Tags: , ,

Westfield Century City wants your business. And they have the free bike valet to prove it.

July 17, 2013 / / One comment

Westfield Bike ValetFinally, someone gets it.

Instead of fighting to keep bike lanes and the bicyclists who use them from besmirching their businesses — as merchants on North Figueroa and York Blvd in Northeast LA have done lately — Westfield Century City is throwing open the doors for people on bikes.

The Westside shopping center, which sits at the eastern terminus of one of the city’s most popular bike lanes, wants your business.

No, they really want your business.

As I hinted yesterday, the busy mall is planning a new Bike Station, which will be the first in the city of Los Angeles. And just the second to be found north of Long Beach, following the highly successful Santa Monica Bike Centers.

Now Westfield’s Assistant General Manager Louis Schillace tells me they’re offering a free bike valet service. In fact, it’s already open, with the first signs going up along the eastbound Santa Monica Blvd bike lane on Tuesday.

Just ride up to the valet station at the front of the shopping center anytime between 10 am and 11 pm, and the Valet Ambassadors will issue you a ticket and lock your bike in a secure storage area while you shop, take in a movie or just hang out for awhile.

And did I mention it’s free?

Particularly nice now that they charge motorists a minimum of $1 for parking — which rises dramatically after three hours.

And which doesn’t seem to have done anything to diminish the demand for parking, as both levels of the upscale mall’s massive parking lots are often full.

As someone who’s lived in the area almost as long as I’ve been in Los Angeles, I used to avoid driving to the mall from Thanksgiving to New Years, when the holiday shopping frenzy meant long waits and endless circling for one of the few available parking spaces.

Now the popularity of Westfield Century City’s stores and restaurants, combined with one of the city’s busiest movie theaters, means that parking backlog exists year round, on most evenings and every weekend.

Bike Valet SignWhich is probably why their parking valet is always packed. And why they’re building a new 500-space parking garage next to Gelson’s and the aforementioned AMC Theaters.

But unlike most malls in auto-centric LA, they get it.

They understand that bikes mean business. And that giving people an opportunity to get out of their cars and ride to Pink Taco, the Apple Store or the latest Hollywood blockbuster on a typically perfect SoCal day means fewer cars clogging those parking lots and the streets leading up to them.

And that replacing their old, hidden wheel bender racks with safe, secure and convenient bike parking is the best way to entice us to open our wallets.

Meanwhile, the free — and yes, I can’t seem to mention that enough — bike valet is only the beginning.

In the near future, what Schillace assures me will be a state-of-the-art bicycle facility will provide an even better option for local riders.

The Bike Lockers will be in our secure valet area and heavily monitored. There will be access control to ensure the safety of the bikes. We will have male and female changing rooms with showers available for people who bike to the center and wish to freshen up.

Sounds perfect for people who commute to work in Century City. And once again, the plan is for the lockers to be free, though that may change depending on demand.

I can live with that.

I’m usually not one to recommend going to a mall. Let alone actually shopping in one.

But I’d love to see their bike valet swamped with bicycles this weekend, and every weekend to come. Along with an uptick in business to confirm they made the right choice.

And encourage other LA businesses to follow their example.

And while you’re there, be sure to stop at the concierge booth or mall offices and say thanks.

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On the other hand, one of LA’s leading landmarks could stand to show some serious improvement.

Bike advocate Niall Huffman rode to the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday for a show featuring, as he put it, “badass Mexican guitarists Rodrigo y Gabriela along with DeVotchka and Lord Huron.” But when it came time to park his bike, he found the situation sadly lacking.

Leading to this email to the Bowl’s management.

To whom it may concern:

I strongly encourage the Hollywood Bowl to re-evaluate how it accommodates the parking needs of patrons who choose to arrive by bicycle. I recently rode my bike to an event, and found the designated “bike parking” (i.e., a railing around a tree next to the Main Gate) to be a joke. By the time I arrived 15 minutes before showtime, the entire outside of the railing was occupied by locked bikes, and I had to hoist my bike and clamber over the railing in order to find a space to lock up. Because the height of the railing interfered with my handlebars, it took me several minutes to figure out how to move the frame of my bicycle close enough to the railing to be able to lock it securely. A picture I took of the designated bike parking area — overflowing with locked bikes — may be viewed at http://goo.gl/7cFVA.

Hollywood Bowl bike parking

I found the whole experience to be undignified and unworthy of the Bowl’s reputation as a world-class live music venue. Beyond this, I am disappointed that the Bowl’s management has yet to see the wisdom of making arriving by bicycle a more convenient experience. Bicycles, after all, take up much less space than automobiles and do not contribute to the pre- and post-event congestion on surrounding streets for which the Bowl has become famous. In a time when the City of Los Angeles is seeking to encourage public transit, bicycling and walking as alternatives to sitting in traffic and making significant investments in improvements for users of these modes, the failure of large destinations like the Bowl to accommodate bicyclists at the end of their trips is holding back the achievement of this worthy policy goal.

This is all very frustrating because it would be remarkably easy for the Bowl to support the proper parking and locking of bicycles. Properly designed bicycle parking can accommodate 8 to 12 bikes in the space it would take to park one car, and standard U-shaped racks accommodating two bikes each can be bought and installed for around $100-200 apiece. Surely there is space somewhere on the Bowl’s property and in its budget for a few dozen of these racks.

If you require more information about how to provide proper bicycle parking, I recommend consulting the Association of Bicycle and Pedestrian Professionals’ “Bicycle Parking Guidelines” (available at http://goo.gl/k3KOl), which contains standards for the shape, spacing and siting of bike racks. It would also be a good idea to review the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s guidelines for bike parking (http://goo.gl/vXOBY). It is key that any new bike racks allow for the frame — not just the wheel — of the bicycle to be locked, and that they not require the bicycle to be lifted off the ground.

It is my sincere hope that the management of the Bowl take this problem seriously and work in good faith to address it. I look forward to many more years of riding my bike to events and being treated with the same respect and dignity as any other Bowl patron.

Niall offered the following update on Tuesday:

UPDATE (7/16/13 5:19 pm): I’m told the Bowl provides a sweet bike rack to its employees and that there’s at least one bike commuter in their marketing department who’s working on improving the bike parking for event patrons, including discussing the possibility of having the LA County Bicycle Coalition coordinate a bike valet. Good to hear things may be getting better!

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On a sadder subject, I’ve gotten a report that another bicyclist has died in Pasadena. However, I haven’t been able to get any confirmation yet; let’s hope it’s not true. And offer a few prayers just in case.

Category: General, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , ,
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