Tag Archive for Los Angeles

Lack of art and infrastructure in Redondo Beach, driver injures 3 Temecula bike riders, and screening Biking While Black

January 30, 2023 / / 2 comments

If you’re planning to ride today, remember drivers won’t expect to see you out in the rain.

Or even afterwards if the day turns out to be cold but dry after the overnight rains.

Despite the evidence of their own eyes, too many drivers assume no one would ever ride a bicycle in less than ideal conditions.

So light yourself up. Ride defensively. And even more than most days, assume you’re invisible. Because chances are, you might as well be.

Today’s photo: Bike themed food court seating in Culver City.

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Dr. Grace Peng offers a thread on Redondo Beach’s lack of safe and secure bike infrastructure.

And art.

Click on the tweets to read the full thread. 

https://twitter.com/gspeng/status/1619808057395134464

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Seriously, jus how crappy a driver do you have to be to take out three Temecula bike riders at once?

Fortunately, no one was killed this time.

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UCLA’s Lewis Center will host a screening of Yolanda Davis-Overstreet’s documentary Biking While Black a week from tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/lacivilrights/status/1618640923251933185

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The Community Social Planning Council is hosting a free virtual panel discussion tomorrow to discuss ways to reduce minimum parking requirements

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The Bike League is offering a reduced rate to attend their annual Bike Summit in Washington DC this March through the end of this month.

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

No bias here. A Toronto columnist complains about plans to make protected bike lanes on a commercial corridor permanent, saying the city needs to put safety concerns over ideology. But safety for whom? Why should the theoretical slowing of a theoretical fire truck outweigh the very real safety needs of daily bike riders?

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Local 

Urbanize looks at a plan for the proposed Arts District Metro station, which could include a connection to the LA River bike path once it’s extended through DTLA.

A Claremont letter writer says he opposes the re-installation of red light cams, even though he counts the red light-running drivers on his daily bicycle commute.

 

State

An exploding ebike battery apparently set off a fire that torched a Huntington Beach apartment; a local fire marshal recommended avoiding overcharging ebike batteries, while noting that ebikes are not inherently dangerous.

Oceanside is regaining its sanity, announcing plans for a lane reduction on the Coast Highway 101 from four to two lanes for a one-mile section, as well as installing bike lanes, pedestrian crossing and roundabouts.

Carlsbad’s city council voted to extend the city’s bicycle, ebike and mobility device state of emergency through March 25th.

Bakersfield opened a 2.5-mile, $1.1 million multi-use path and bridge connecting West Bakersfield with the Kern River Bike Path.

San Francisco is reaching out to underserved communities as the city develops its Active Communities Plan, which comes after it already remade its streets by making many of the temporary pandemic-era bike lanes and Slow Streets permanent.

 

National

They get it. A government technology website says ebikes are great for replacing car trips, but they’re only as good as the infrastructure they travel, which is often lacking from low-income neighborhoods.

Maui, Hawaii is now limiting commercial bicycle tours, after the popular rides evidently became too popular, particularly descents of the Haleakalā volcano.

While Orange County is panicking over teenage ebike riders, Hawaii has proposed giving high school students ebike rebates up to $2,000 to help keep more cars off the roads at school times.

A wishy washy Oregon editorial questions whether Oregon should establish an ebike rebate program, without voicing an opinion one way or another — except to say it could result in wealthier Oregonians getting some of the money.

A Las Vegas man without a permanent home gives back to the community through near-daily bikeshare rides to deliver homemade sandwiches to the city’s homeless people.

The official route has been announced for this year’s RAGBRAI ride across Iowa, the 50th anniversary of the ride.

Two women in Wisconsin offer advice on riding through the state’s frigid winters. Meanwhile, we’re often told at public meetings that no one would want to ride in a chilly LA winter, where it sometimes gets all the way down to 50°. Brrrrrr.

An Illinois columnist complains about stepping into a linguistic minefield when he referred to the “cross-through” bike his daughter wanted as a girl’s bike, apparently conflating a cross bike with a step-through.

Nashville advocates held a memorial on one of the city’s deadliest streets for the 48 pedestrians and two bike riders killed on Music City streets last year.

A Maine op-ed credits the state’s DOT with providing bike riders and pedestrians with a glimmer of hope by creating the state’s first-ever active transportation plan.

A new Massachusetts law starting April 1st will require drivers to stay four feet from bike riders and other vulnerable road users.

A Jersey City man has filed a $1 million claim against the city, saying he was the victim of a hit-and-run when he was struck by a councilwoman who didn’t bother to stop, after allegedly riding his bike through a red light; she has already been fined $5,000 and lost her license for a year as a result.

 

International

A new backpack takes the Hövding inflatable bike helmet a step further, deploying into an airbag designed to protect your head, shoulders and chest, while automatically dialing 911 in the event of an impact. No word on cost or how much it weighs. 

Londoners are now being offered free e-scooter rides to scrap their older gas-guzzling cars.

A British writer credits a bikeshare tour of the duchy of Cornwall with rekindling his love of bicycling.

The prize for Britain’s shortest bike lane goes to the city of Birmingham, which installed a seven-foot bike lane purportedly to improve safety.

Former MMA champ and all-around human train wreck Conor McGregor is one of us, as he insists he could have been killed when a driver hit his bike while riding in Ireland.

A travel site lists nine reasons bicyclists will fall in love with Ireland, from Galway to Guinness. I cold sum it up in one — it’s Ireland. 

A local bike club donated 70 bicycles to 12 schools in Ghana to help students get to class without being too tired to study, though the Chief of Boko — ie, head of education — warned the students not to use the bikes to road aimlessly. Because the last thing you’d want to do is ride a bike just because it’s fun, right?

Concerns are rising about the effect of Japan’s new helmet mandate on the country’s bikeshare systems; Yokohama’s BayBike system will experiment with loaning out bike helmets, with just three helmets available for its 178,000 registered users. Yes, 3.

A bill in the Philippine Senate would create a nationwide bike lane network.

A pair of Aussie university professors ask the difficult question of “what do cyclists wan,” and mostly get it right, from safe infrastructure to bicycling as the new normal. Although they somehow leave out donuts, coffee and beer.

 

Competitive Cycling

There may be hope for American pro cycling yet, as Neilson Powless claimed his third pro victory and first of the year with a solo breakaway in Sunday’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Marseille.

Colombian cyclist Egan Bernal talks about last year’s near-fatal crash, as the 2019 Tour de France champ says people thought he was dead after riding his bike into the back of a parked truck during a training ride.

American pro Ayesha McGowan says she’s finally ready to race after uterine fibroids derailed her first year on the WorldTour.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you pedal the entire length of the East Coast on one wheel, instead of two. Dear Abby says no, you don’t have to touch a sweaty bike rider.

And nothing like mistakenly crediting your ancestor with inventing the bicycle, as if merely inventing the treadle bike wasn’t good enough.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Bike rider injured in Santa Monica hit-and-run, a call to call it out when passing, and CicLAvia explains new CicLAminis

January 27, 2023 / / Comments Off on Bike rider injured in Santa Monica hit-and-run, a call to call it out when passing, and CicLAvia explains new CicLAminis

The good news is, my head did not explode.

Nor did I have it surgically removed, as tempting as it was. 

Thanks to the miracle of modern pharmaceuticals, my head is finally better, if not great, and I’m ready to get back to work. 

So let’s get to it. 

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Let’s start with some troubling news from our longtime friend Dr. Michael Cahn, who shares what he saw in Santa Monica yesterday afternoon.

Ocean Park, close to the intersection with Marguerita Ave, I saw a cyclist down on the middle of the roadway today around 3:20 pm.

The cyclist was conscious and able to move his limbs it seems. A bystander tells me later that according to the victim a car was involved that left the victim in the roadway (hit and run). From what I understood both cyclist and car were going South. A bystander tells me that another driver (going North) identified the fugitive driver as a woman.

The position of the prone cyclist in the middle of the road makes it difficult to reconstruct the event. There is a bike lane on Ocean Avenue. I was walking in the park around that time.

Let’s hope the victim is okay, and the heartless coward who left him bleeding in the street is quickly brought to justice.

Then again, let’s just hope the Santa Monica police take it seriously.

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I want to highlight a comment from Kate Johnson on Wednesday’s post.

Because she’s right.

Long time rider here, used to letting others know that I am coming up behind them (“Coming up behind you, passing on your left.”) and noticing that very few riders are doing that now. I can’t count the number of times I have been surprised by faster moving cyclists who pass without notice — they are trusting that I will stay in my lane, I suppose. Can’t we reintroduce this very simple way to avoid clashes? Please, people, call out “On your left!” before you pass someone, no matter if they are riding or walking!

 

If you’re not familiar with the practice, it’s longtime bike etiquette to announce when you’re passing someone.

I always do it, unless I can give the other persons at least the same three-foot margin I expect from motorists, and too often don’t get.

Her wording is also good. I find “passing on your left” is far more effective than the more common “on your left,” which can confuse people. And informing them you’re coming from behind can’t hurt.

So give it a shot on your next ride.

You might be surprised how much more pleasant it makes it for everyone.

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CicLAvia explains the new pedestrian-oriented CicLAminis scheduled for Watts and North Hollywood in May and September, respectively.

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Streets For All is hosting a public debate with five of the seven candidates who have qualified for the April special election to replace former Councilmember Nury Martinez in CD6; an eighth candidate is running a write-in campaign.

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Walk Bike Long Beach is hosting a ten-mile community bike ride tomorrow, with plans to ride north from downtown through Wrigley to Steelcraft and back.

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Both Metro Los Angeles and Metrolink are offering free transit on Saturday, February 4th — one week from tomorrow — in honor of Transit Equity Day and the birthday of civil rights icon Rosa Parks. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up. 

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

Tell me again about those entitled cyclists. Streetsblog reports that LA’s entitled drivers have dismantled the modest Vision Zero improvements on the connector road between Silver Lake Boulevard and Temple Street in Historic Filipinotown, where missing bollards have created a DIY slip lane, and the crosswalk is completely worn off. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the tip.

No bias here. A New York City councilmember has introduced a bill to ban ebikes and e-scooters until “they are registered, insured, licensed, and safe to operate, charge and store.” Never mind that cars and their operators are registered, insured and licensed, and they’re still a hell of a lot more dangerous than any ebike. 

An Irish judge cut a woman’s nearly $22,000 judgement against the country’s Motor Insurance Bureau for their failure to identify a hit-and-run driver by 20% because she wasn’t wearing a bike helmet. Even though most helmets wouldn’t have prevented the concussion she suffered. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

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

A Washington state man was arrested for robbing Home Depot at knifepoint, then leading police on a two hour bicycle chase, which included a bike and wardrobe change in a failed effort to throw them off his trail.

Life is cheap in New Hampshire, where a man was acquitted of killing a pedestrian after allegedly blowing through a red light, and not having a working rear brake; like many drivers, he claimed the victim darted out from between parked cars, and he just didn’t see him in time.

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Local 

This is who we share the road with. The LAPD has arrested 31-year old Taylor Lee Harris, accusing him of being the speeding driver who fled the scene on foot after the crash that killed a 13-year old boy and his 18-month old brother in South LA earlier this month.

The Los Angeles City Council Public Works Committee voted unanimously to end the bizarre practice of forcing developers to build brief street widenings in front of their buildings, on the off chance the street gets widened some day. And which end up being mistakenly blamed on, you guessed it, us.

BikeLA, the former LACBC, looks back at Saturday’s die-in at City Hall, while making the case for safer streets in the City of Angels; they also introduce their new YouTube channel, which doesn’t seem to have any active videos at the moment.

After graduating from high school, a Los Angeles teenager spent 527 days riding his bike from Alaska to Argentina along the Pan-American Highway; now he plans to ship his bike home and backpack back home from Argentina to LA with his girlfriend.

 

State

Well, that will solve the problem. Carlsbad is asking everyone, but especially young ebike riders, to make a public pledge to do their part to be safe on the streets. Thanks to Phillip Young for the link.

Sad news from eastern San Diego County, where someone riding a bicycle found a 55-year old man fatally injured in a motorcycle crash in the Anza-Borrego desert; the victim died despite efforts to revive him at the scene.

Palm Springs Life offers an insiders guide to the Coachella Valley bicycling scene ahead of the upcoming Tour de Palm Springs.

An Agoura Hills letter writer calls for approval of the city’s bike plan, saying that as a driver, better bike lanes would make her more comfortable sharing the road with bike riders.

The Carpinteria Creek Bike Path will remain closed for now due to debris and structural damage from the recent rains.

A Santa Barbara letter writer calls for approval of a proposed bike path next to Modoc Road, where he was struck by a driver five years ago; the person who hit him played the universal Get Out Of Jail Free card by claiming he just didn’t see him because of the glare on his windshield.

The family of a Fresno university professor who was killed in a head-on collision with an Acura NSX while riding her bike last year is alleging in a lawsuit that the driver was racing, not one, not two, but four other drivers in a pair of Porsche 911s, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari at the time of the crash. There’s no word on whether the driver was charged, but if this is true, all five drivers should be charged with vehicular homicide, at the very least.

San Francisco Streetsblog asks how many broken limbs, life-altering injuries, and deaths is a parking spot worth, as an Alameda NIMBY sues block a Complete Streets project to preserve streetside parking.

 

National

CyclingSavvy discusses what the hell you should do at a stop sign. And no, they say coming to a full stop and putting your foot down usually isn’t it.

Bicycling examines the ongoing debate over bike helmets in the bicycling community. Once again, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Oregon’s proposed ebike rebate bill will get its first committee hearing next week; the current proposal calls for an instant rebate of up to $1,200 for a standard ebikes and $1,700 for a cargo bike.

Popular Seattle ebike brand Rad Power says mistakes were made, but they’re all better now that they have a new CEO.

Surly’s popular Big Dummy longtail cargo bike is getting some upgrades for its final year of production in 2023.

Heartbreaking story from Indiana, where a pet rescue used social media to find a new home for an orphaned Labrador retriever, after her owner was killed in a collision while riding his bike.

Accused terrorist Sayfullo Saipov was convicted of a long list of charges in the 2017 Halloween Day vehicular attack on a Manhattan bike path that killed eight people and seriously injured several others; Saipov will face a second phase to determine whether he will be executed. Although personally, I think life without parole in SuperMax is a far harsher punishment than death, which just seems like the easy way out.

He gets it. A Philadelphia man argues that penalties for hit-and-run won’t be stiff enough until they equal the the minimum sentences for homicide or manslaughter, saying he’ll never be the same after he was a victim himself.

No surprise here, as a DC website says a study shows ebike subsidies are more effective than subsidies for electric cars.

A 74-year old man who used his bike as his only form of transportation was killed in an Annapolis, Maryland hit-and-run, directly next to the site of a planned bike path; the side path was funded three years ago, but hasn’t even gotten out of the planning stage yet; sadly, he paid the price for the city’s slow pace.

A North Carolina man will spend up to 13 years behind bars after he was convicted of using his car as a weapon to kill a man riding a bicycle, after a dispute at a gaming establishment.

Tragic news from Georgia, where a bike rider whose injuries led to five other people getting hurt has died, two weeks after the other people ran out into the road to protect and pray for him when he was struck by a driver, then he was struck again by a second motorist, along with all five people surrounding him.

 

International

The Guardian looks at the rise of the 15 minute city, which is quickly gaining ground in urban planning circles. I live in a one hour city here in Hollywood, where I can walk to get most things I need, but have to spend an hour on the bus just to see the doctor. 

Bike Radar explains how building an electric motor into a cargo bike designed to carry heavy loads increases its usefulness. The magazine also offers advice on how to tell when your chain needs to be replaced, and how to prevent it. Hint: When it keeps dropping every time you shift, no matter how you adjust it, sort of like mine does these days.

Shimano has patented a wireless system to recharge electronic components while you ride.

Jalopnik points out that Amsterdam’s new $65 million underwater bicycle garage isn’t even the biggest in The Netherlands.

Leading Dutch ebike maker VanMoof nearly went belly up when it ran out of money to pay its bills at the end of last year.

Two-time defending champion Emirates Team New Zealand has once again hired a pair of bicyclists to power hydraulics as they prepare to compete in next year’s America’s Cup in Barcelona.

 

Competitive Cycling

Thirty-three-year old cycling savant Peter Sagan says this will be his last year in the road cycling peloton, as he plans to retire at the end of the season to focus on mountain biking at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In a story that American cycling fans should be able to relate to, Columbian cycling has hit hard times after the glory years of Bernal, Quintana and Lopez. But at least their hard times don’t stem from eight Tour de France titles getting yanked due to doping. 

Merced’s Hincapie Gran Fondo gravel race has postponed until next year because damage from the recent rains mean the course won’t be ready in time for the planned March date.

 

Finally…

As if SUVs are dangerous enough, now they come armored, armed and electrified. And even the Army says put a damn light on your bike, already.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

70-year old armed road raging driver, 80-year old bike-riding storm chaser, and 95-year old driver kills 88-year old bike rider

January 25, 2023 / / 2 comments

Today’s common theme is elderly bike riders and drivers.

Although your definition of elderly may vary, most likely depending on how old you are.

A road raging, 70-year old Tiburon, California driver faces charges for following a bike rider in his car before getting out and threatening him with a knife, because he believed his intended victim had hit his car with his hand; the bike rider teamed with a nearby witness to hold the man down until police arrived.

A 69-year old alleged drunken, hit-and-run driver faces up to a decade behind bars for killing a 20-year old Ohio bike rider.

An 80-year old former reporter for the Miami Herald is riding his bike up and down the East Coast chasing weather systems, after spending the last two decades exploring storm systems on the West Coast and the middle of the country.

Tragic news from Florida, where an 88-year old man riding a bike was killed by a 95-year old woman in a Buick as he was attempting to cross a roadway. No word on who was at fault, but the crash once again raises the question of how old is too old to drive. 

A Japanese study shows requiring cognitive tests for drivers over 70 can prevent crashes caused by men — but oddly, not by women. However, injuries among bike riders and pedestrians increased as cognitively impaired former drivers took to biking and walking.

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

Parks workers in Portland, Oregon will be retrained after staffer mistakenly posted a sign banning bikes from unpaved park trails, even though official city policy explicitly allows bicycles.

A London counselor is calling for bike-blocking barriers in front of a pedestrian tunnel under the Thames, despite long-stalled plans to allow bike riding in the tunnel; the two-pound fine for violating the bike ban hasn’t ben raised since 1912.

No bias here. A long-running BBC host agrees with an anti-bike tweet, saying “Too much testosterone squeezed into slightly too little Lycra tends to prove explosive.” Then again, so do broadcasters who are full of shit.

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

That feeling when a bunny loses its cottontail in a crash with a speeding Stanford University bike rider. Although someone should tell the Stanford student paper that a tail is not a limb.

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Local 

High-end Swiss bikemaker Thömus held a cocktail reception to unveil their new store on Santa Monica’s Montana Ave, and introduce their 25-pound, $6,000 ebike, which they claim is the lightest ebike currently on the market. So, should we be offended that we weren’t invited? Maybe this site is too proletarian for their taste.

Police in Santa Monica will be conducting yet another bike and pedestrian safety operation on Thursday from 6 am to 8 pm, ticketing any traffic violations that could endanger bike riders or pedestrians, regardless of who commits them. Standard protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit lines, at least for that one day, so you’re not the one who gets a ticket.

 

State

You might want to avoid PCH through Huntington Beach today, after flooding from high tides blocked the highway in both directions at Bolsa Chica Beach on Tuesday; at least part of the highway is expected to remain closed through today.

San Francisco-based Strava offered a mea culpa over the botched rollout of their recent price increases, saying they moved too fast without providing enough clarity on pricing. Yet they didn’t roll back their prices, so they can’t be too sorry.

San Francisco’s Mission Local examines the hit-and-run epidemic, calling it the perfect crime in some ways, since over 70% of Bay Area drivers who flee from crashes get away with it. That number is significantly higher here in Los Angeles, where 92% of hit-and-run drivers are never caught.

 

National

They get it. Wired says store owners still fight to protect their curbside parking, even though installing protected bike lanes tends to boost local businesses.

That’s more like it. A new bill in the Montana legislature would clarify that ebikes are not motor vehicles, mopeds or off-highway vehicles, and should be allowed anywhere regular bicycles are allowed.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. We mentioned yesterday that an alleged drunken hit-and-run driver was sentenced to up to 15 years behind bars — actually 20 — for killing a 13-year old boy riding his bike; now it turns it he had five previous DUIs, yet could still walk after less than one year with good behavior. Just another example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.

Houston’s transit agency is considering investing half a million dollars to take over the city’s bikeshare system to improve connectivity to buses and trains.

The trial of accused terrorist Sayfullo Saipov is nearing the end, as prosecutors argue he turned a popular New York bike path into a battlefield strewn with mangled bikes and bodies; the Halloween Day, 2017 vehicular attack left eight dead and dozens injured, some permanently. Meanwhile, a Dutch woman met the cop she credits with saving her life after losing both her legs in the attack.

 

International

Bicycling visits seven massive bike garages around the world they say you have to check out. None of which are in the US, naturally. For a change, read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.

Road.cc revisits some of the best, worst and weirdest bicycle patents, from Shimano’s 14-speed sprocket to Google’s human flypaper designed to prevent serious injuries by making bike riders and pedestrians stick to the cars that hit them. No, really.

A new study from the UK shows as little as six to nine minutes of vigorous activity — like riding your fast or uphill — is enough to keep your brain working at peak efficiency.

A British CEO is biking 1,000 miles across Europe to raise enough money to remove 40 Russian landmines in Ukraine.

British insurance company ETA examines tactical urbanism and DIY crosswalks, including the efforts of LA’s Crosswalk Collective.

Popular Dutch ebike maker VanMoof is losing money on every bike they sell due to supply chain issues. But they plan to make it up in volume.

Toyota is teaming with French ebike maker Douze to introduce a new flatbed e-cargo bike designed for both businesses and individuals; it can also be configured to carry passengers.

An unidentified 16-year old is facing life in prison after he was convicted of stabbing a Perth, Australia man to death in a dispute over a stolen bicycle; the victim was attempting to reclaim a bike taken from a ten-year old boy.

 

Competitive Cycling

The US National Mountain Bike Team will now be based in Bentonville, Arkansas. Just like Walmart.

American Quinn Simmons was the surprise winner of the third stage of Argentina’s Vuelta a San Juan; the 22-year old redhead claimed victory on a closed circuit car racing track.

The nascent National Cycling League announced their 2023 schedule, with races planned for Miami, Atlanta, Denver and Washington DC. Which seems to give them a decidedly East Coast bent. 

 

Finally…

Your next bike rack could charge your ebike. Riding your bike with a vision-blocking array of 64 smartphones because you gotta catch ’em all in Pokémon Go.

And Arnold has clearly been one of us for a long time. But let’s hope someone has introduced him to the concept of bike shorts in the years since.

Or underwear, anyway.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

CicLAvia releases calendar of 8 events across LA, more from Saturday’s City Hall Die-In, and LA hip hop history bike tour

January 24, 2023 / / Comments Off on CicLAvia releases calendar of 8 events across LA, more from Saturday’s City Hall Die-In, and LA hip hop history bike tour

Mark your calendar.

Nonprofit group CicLAvia released their full schedule of open streets events for the coming year, with eight CicLAvias spread throughout the city.

The list includes two new one to two mile CicLAmini events targeted to walkers, instead of bike riders.

In addition to the previously announced five-mile Valley CicLAvia on Sherman Way February 26th, you’ll have a chance to take part in the following events.

  • April 15: Mid-City Meets Pico Union presented by Metro
  • May 21: CicLAmini – Watts presented by Metro
  • June 18: South LA – Vermont Ave presented by Metro
  • August 20: Koreatown Meets Hollywood presented by Metro
  • September 17: CicLAmini – North Hollywood
  • October 15: Heart of LA presented by Metro
  • December 3: South LA – Leimert Park Meets Historic South Central presented by Metro

The group also announced an additional event on February 10th, when Los Angeles Ale Works will release their new seek-la-VEE-ah West Coast India Pale Ale at a CicLAvia season launch party and fundraiser at Ivy Station Complex, Culver City, during the 5-10 pm Night Market.

So now you can drink CicLAvia while you ride, walk, scoot, skate or roll it.

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As we mentioned yesterday, Saturday’s die-in at Los Angeles City Hall, hosted by a long list of advocacy groups, protested the worst year on LA streets in recent memory, with 312 people needlessly killed in the City of Angels.

Although you’d think this city would have made more than enough angels by now, since even one death from traffic violence is one too many.

Here are just a few faces and images from the day.

Organizers distributed 312 white flowers to symbolize the 312 lives needlessly lost to traffic violence.

Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE) Founder Damian Kevitt, holding the three flowers on the left, led the day’s events.

 

From center to right, California Assembly Member Laura Friedman, LA Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, state Senator Anthony Portantino, and Streets For All's Michael Schneider

From center to right, California Assembly Member Laura Friedman, LA Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, state Senator Anthony Portantino, and Streets For All’s Michael Schneider; my new friend Max reclines at lower right

Participants lay still for 312 seconds of silence in honor of the 312 lives needlessly lost

California Assembly Member Laura Friedman, LA Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, state Senator Anthony Portantino stand above Damian Kevitt at the mic

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports just over 200 people attended the protest; he offers his own photos from the day.

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Volume Four of the Temple Tactics hip hop blog talks with Conkrete Mike P. about his bike tours exploring West Coast Hip Hop Historical Sites.

Although apparently, you can also do the tours by car, if you insist.

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

No bias here. A New York columnist says the city could make a fortune just fining bicyclists for moving and equipment violations, including riding backwards — which is physically impossible — and insists that ebikes somehow aren’t bicycles. Just wait until someone tells him about cars and the things their operators do, including driving backwards. And I suppose electric cars aren’t real cars, either.

No bias here, too. A British Columbia man who claims to be a bike rider blasts what he calls the city’s most disruptive protected bike lanes, blames “woke” politicians for them, and claims no one ever uses them. So a columnist went out in the middle of the day and counted 13 bicyclists in just ten minutes.

The British media is going crazy over the shortest bike lane ever, which isn’t actually a bike lane — just a seven-foot half circle designed to give bicyclists a safe place to pull over.

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

There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for an Iowa man who faces charges for throwing a children’s bike at a woman before punching her in the face, and knocking her to the ground.

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Local 

Streets For All calls for ending LA’s bizarre policy of automatic street widening, which results in brief mid-block curb carve-outs in front of new construction, and have been mistakenly called bike lanes; a motion to end the policy will be heard at tomorrow’s Public Works Committee meeting.

 

State

Students in Los Alamitos will now have to complete an ebike safety course and have a permit to ride an ebike to school.

A 63-year old San Diego man suffered a number of broken bones when his beach cruiser was rear-ended by a driver on Pacific Highway in the Morena neighborhood Saturday night; the victim was reportedly riding without lights or reflectors.

A new report shows bike and pedestrian injuries have nearly been eliminated on Santa Barbara’s Promenade since cars were banned, without a single fatality or severe injury in the past four years.

A couple dozen protestors blocked traffic at a San Francisco intersection where a 64-year old woman was killed by a driver two weeks ago, demanding improved pedestrian safety in the neighborhood.

 

National

It’s a very sad commentary when a review site recommends stationary bikes to use if riding a bike in your city seems too dangerous. Instead of, you know, just making it safer to actually ride a bike. 

Axios examines the ever-expanding American pickup truck, which has continued to increase in size, power and capacity over the past four decades, even as buyers use it more for shopping and dropping the kids off at soccer practice, and less for hauling anything but ass. And which presents ever increasing danger to anyone outside of them.

Makes Use Of offers advice on how to avoid ebike fires.

Life is cheap in Utah, where a hit-and-run driver was sentenced to up to 15 years behind bars for the alleged drunken death of a 13-year old boy riding his bike last year — or he could be out in less than a year with good behavior.

If it’s any consolation, over twice as many people were killed on Colorado roadways last year than the 312 killed on Los Angeles streets — even though the state’s population is just 40% higher — making it Colorado’s deadliest year in four decades. And I hope no one actually takes any real solace in that. 

Streetsblog reports that more children under 18 were killed on New York streets last year than any other time since Vision Zero was adopted 2015; the site also reports the NYPD is a lot better at solving hit-and-runs in white neighborhoods than in communities of color.

Police in Charlottesville, Virginia say charges against a driver in a fatal crash will depend on whether the victim was riding his bike across the street or walking it; one means the victim was operating a vehicle and had to obey the rules of the road, while the other makes him a pedestrian who the driver had to yield to. Yet either way, the victim is still dead and the driver still killed him. 

Seriously? Key West, Florida has put a proposed ebike ban on hold in hopes the state will take action. Because the risks posed by ebikes are so much greater than the ones from cars, evidently.

 

International

Road.cc awards their choices for accessories of the year, which may not all be available here in the US.

A Penn State student spent his winter break riding a bike over the world’s highest volcano, climbing over 20,000 feet over 11 days to top Chile’s Ojos del Salado.

A Toronto lawyer is challenging the constitutionality of a speeding ticket she received for violating the 12 mph speed limit while riding downhill in a park; she claims imposing a flat speed limit on non-flat terrain increases the risk for bike riders.

The latest road danger in England’s West Midland’s region are foot-long laughing gas canisters abandoned in the roadway by people abusing nitrous oxide intended for the catering industry — apparently including people imbibing behind the wheel.

Sad news from the UK, where the two bike riders killed by a hit-and-run driver we mentioned yesterday turned out to be a father riding with his 16-year old son; the 37-year old alleged driver was arrested after abandoning his car.

A British bike storage company claims Brexit has crippled its business, which is down 25% since the country left the European Union.

A Kiwi website makes the case for why the country needs an ebike rebate. Then again, every city, state and country should offer rebates for ebikes. Including this one.

 

Competitive Cycling

Outside takes a deep dive into the murder of rising gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson, which begins with pro cyclist Colin Strickland’s belief that every woman should own a gun for their own protection — including ex-girlfriend Kaitlin Armstrong, Wilson’s accused killer.

It was a split verdict in the trial of two men charged with robbing Mark Cavendish and his family at knifepoint in a brutal 2021 home invasion; one of the defendants was found not guilty, while 31-year-old Romario Henry was convicted on two robbery counts. A third man had previously pleaded guilty, while two others remain at large. As usual, read the story on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when someone steals your new bike prototype before you can even build the damn thing. Presenting the perfect Ti touring bike for people with more dollars than sense.

And the perfect accessory for bike riders who really wish they were cars.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Die-in driven from news by mass shooting, LA Vision Zero a “totally unfunny self-parody,” and voters say no to De León

January 23, 2023 / / Comments Off on Die-in driven from news by mass shooting, LA Vision Zero a “totally unfunny self-parody,” and voters say no to De León

Three-hundred-twelve lives needlessly lost to traffic violence.

Most of them bike riders and pedestrians, many lower income, as Los Angeles set a record for the most traffic deaths in at least the last two decades.

Yet almost as heartbreaking as the lives lost to traffic violence in the City of Angels last year was the way Saturday’s die-in at City Hall to protest the deaths was shoved out of the headlines by yet another mass shooting.

The protest, which drew around one hundred participants, appeared to be covered by a number of news outlets.

Yet the only news story that’s been posted online so far came from Fox11.

And even they couldn’t be bothered to identify California Senator Anthony Portantino as the prone bicyclist shown gripping his handlebars in the story’s top photo.

Oops.

When your lead photo shows a state senator participating in a large protest, maybe it would be nice to identify him. Just saying.

 

The brief story attempts to put LA’s unacceptable rate of traffic deaths in perspective.

Yet somehow fails to mention that even one death is one too many.

How does that compare to other cities across the state, or even nationally? LA’s 312 traffic fatalities equate to just over eight deaths per 100,000, nearly twice that of San Francisco (4.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2022), but fewer than San Diego, which saw just less than nine traffic deaths per 100,000 people in 2022. In Cook County, Illinois, home to Chicago, there were roughly 7.8 traffic deaths per 100,000 people in 2022.

It ends with an all-too-brief mention of just what the assembled protestors were demanding.

Protesters organizing Saturday, want the city to do more to help curb traffic deaths in LA. They’re asking Mayor Karen Bass to declare a state of emergency on traffic violence; for more funding for the LA Department of Transportation and initiatives like VisionZero; and the passage of legislation that would allow for automated speed enforcement on dangerous roads.

“Throwing only $50.6 million at road safety issues in a city this big, especially considering how many lives are being lost, is a joke,” SAFE’s report concludes.

All of which was great.

But in addition to failing to identify Portantino, the station also failed to mention that Assembly Transportation Chair Laura Friedman took part, as did CD3 Councilmember Bob Blumenfield.

Not to mention leaders from Streets Are For Everyone, Families For Safe Streets, Streets For All, LA Walks and BikeLA — formerly the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition — among others.

Even then, the story was gone by morning, as LA’s news outlets went with wall-to-wall coverage of the Monterey Park shootings.

Leaving the reaction to the city’s horrendous death toll forgotten on the newsroom floor, just a blip in the weekend news.

I’ll have more tomorrow, after I have a chance to sift through all the many photos I took of the event.

At center is this photo, with the red bandana, is very good boy Max, who joined his owner in playing dead along with everyone else.

The top photo shows Assembly Member Laura Friedman addressing the crowd, flanked by state Sen. Anthony Portantino; behind her are LA Councilmember Bob Blumenfield and Streets For All founder Michael Schneider. 

Correction: Apparently suffering a major brain cramp, I somehow originally misidentified Streets For All’s Michael Schneider in the above caption as Michael MacDonald, evidently mistaking him for a member of the Doobie Brothers. He is, to the best of my knowledge, not a Doobie nor a rock star, but a street safety star instead. My apologies. 

………

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times Letters Editor Paul Thornton introduced responses to LA’s rising toll of traffic violence with a headline calling the city’s Vision Zero failure a “totally unfunny self-parody.”

All along, the city’s primary tool to achieving its Vision Zero goals has been redesigning roads to reduce vehicle speeds and allocate more and safer spaces to cyclists and pedestrians. What we’ve gotten since 2015 are bike lanes removed from street widening projects, quashed “complete street” proposals, a thriving Lincoln Heights street market shut down by the city, and a reopened 6th Street Viaduct used as a drag strip. Something tells me we’ll be much worse off on Vision Zero in 2025 than we were in 2015.

Although naturally, one letter writer felt the need to remind us that streets are for cars, and everyone and everything else doesn’t belong there.

Nope. No bias there.

And while we’re on the subject of letters to the editor of the Los Angeles Times, the expected complaints about ebikes in the paper’s recent article about their supposed invasion of Orange County Beach cities, a Huntington Beach man says what the outrage over ebikes really points out is the lack of safe bike infrastructure.

Well said.

………

No surprise here.

The LA Times is reporting that CD14 voters have turned sharply against incumbent Councilmember Kevin de León in the wake of his comments on a racist and otherwise offensive recording that has already led to the resignation of the former council president and one of LA’s most powerful labor leaders.

The turnaround comes just two years after those same voters overwhelmingly installed De León to replace disgraced Jose Huizar, who pled guilty to racketeering last week.

…By a wide margin, voters said De León puts his own political self-interest ahead of the people he represents. Even reliable supporters who voted for him in the past have lost faith, the poll found.

Only 23% of the voters surveyed approved of the job De León is doing, compared with 48% who disapproved, the poll found. Just over half think he should resign, compared with fewer than a quarter who want him to stay in office and 18% who were undecided; 9% did not answer the question.

If a recall were to qualify for the ballot — an effort to qualify one is currently circulating petitions — 58% would support recalling him from office, compared with 25% who would be opposed and 17% undecided, the survey found.

That comes after De León was heard on the leaked recording comparing the Black adopted son of former Councilmember Mike Bonin to a Luis Vuitton purse, and discussed how Latino councilmembers could mute the influence of their Black peers on the council, as well as their constituents.

Yet De León continues to ignore calls to resign, apparently thinking there is some pathway that will allow him to rehabilitate his image before facing the voters again in 2024.

Or sooner, if the recall petitions currently circling in his district qualify for the ballot.

De León had shown promise when it came to supporting bike and safety improvements in his district, including selecting the resident-designed Beautiful Boulevard option for the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit route through Eagle Rock.

But whatever good he promised came to a quick end the moment he was heard on that infamous recording.

It’s time for De León to read the writing on the wall — and in the pages of the Times — and resign.

CD14 deserves a leader who can more effectively represent all the people, including those of us who travel on two wheels.

………

This area has long been one of the most unforgiving areas for bicycling in all of the Los Angeles areas.

Although the long-delayed Mark Bixby Memorial Bicycle Pedestrian Path over the new Long Beach International Gateway Bridge, better known as the replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge, should help.

Once they finally get around to opening it.

Meanwhile, this video of trying to find a safe route around the Port of Los Angeles plays like a one-man Marx Brothers routine.

https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1616589984206839808

………

Dr. Grace Peng forward news that an anti-bike lane Redondo Beach councilmember is facing possible loss of his license to practice law after allegedly misappropriating over a half million dollars of client funds.

Proving that corruption allegations extend far beyond LA City Hall.

………

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

The Chicago Sun-Times probably didn’t mean it when they placed an ad about the warning signs of dementia in a story about a man riding 60 miles across the frozen wintery city to meet with other similar-minded viking bikers. But still.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A road raging British driver was found not guilty of punching and choking a man riding a bike after claiming self-defense because the bike rider punched his car after the driver “clipped” him.

This is what “clipped” looks like, as an Australian truck driver sideswipes a bike rider, then keeps going, possibly unaware he’d even hit someone.

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

Seriously, if you’re carrying guns and a large amount or narcotics on your bike, make sure the damn thing is up to the vehicle code.

………

Local 

Streets For All is calling for more support for the heavy rail option to extend the Metro train system through the Sepulveda Pass, including a Metro station on the UCLA campus, at an in-person meeting on Tuesday and a virtual meeting on Thursday. Bel Air residents are demanding an impractical monorail through the center of the 405 because it wouldn’t, you know, inconvenience the rich people.

VeloNews has more on the nonprofit Bahati Foundation, formed by Compton’s own former national crit champ Rahsaan Bahati to change the lives of underprivileged kids through bikes.

Santa Monica-based Bird is selling their consumer ebike for 60% off right now, marking it down from $2,299 to just $899, including free shipping.

 

State

Twenty people got tickets during Goleta’s latest crackdown on traffic violations that endanger bike riders and pedestrians; unfortunately, there’s no breakdown on whether the tickets went to motorists, bike riders or pedestrian.

 

National

Washington’s governor pitched in on the first day of a new program to teach Seattle kindergartners how to ride a bike.

They get it. The Chicago Sun-Times says that it’s worth trying surveillance cameras and automated ticketing to keep drivers out of bus and bike lanes.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is one of us, as he explains what happened when he fell off his bike and broke his wrist, which combined with Tommy John surgery and a broken finger to cost him most of three seasons.

 

International

Rouler explores the relationship between Italian bikemaker Cinelli and artist and former pro cycling wunderkind Taylor Phinney.

A travel site offers tips on exploring Europe’s over 27,000 miles of bikeways. Which would take the better part of two years if you averaged 50 miles a day. Works for me.

An insurance company issued an urgent warning to British bicyclists about the crumbling state of the country’s roads, as 21% of bike riders suffered pothole-related injuries. Although I imagine what they really mean is 21% of bicycling injuries are related to potholes. But what do I know?

Once again, a driver has claimed multiple victims, as a British driver faces charges for the hit-and-run death of two men who were riding their bikes, before abandoning his car and fleeing on foot. Although even more frightening is how the local weekly paper seems to accept the horrific crash, mentioning it almost in passing.

A history website tells the story of Peter Masters, an Austrian Jew who escaped the Nazis, then returned as a bike-riding British commando during the D-Day invasion.

Horrible story from India, where a 70-year old man was killed when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike, then desperately clung to the drivers hood before he was thrown off and run over when the driver finally hit the brakes.

A New Zealand man’s planned three-day bike ride to babysit his granddaughter took a detour when his ride was interrupted by Cyclone Hale.

 

Competitive Cycling

British pro Simon Yates won an uphill battle to claim the final stage of the Tour Down Under, as Aussie Jay Vine took the GC title to win his first WorldTour race.

Bryan Coquard claimed his first WorldTour stage win in Saturday’s stage four of the Tour Down Under, 11 years after he joined the top pro circuit.

Rising Dutch ‘cross star Shirin van Anrooij had to sit one out after thieves stole her race bike from the parking lot while she was doing recon on the course in Costa Blanca, Spain.

Zimbabwean mountain biker Pressmore Musundi is aiming to compete in this year’s African Games, despite being born with no toes on either foot, following first and third place finishes in a pair of South Africa’s top mountain bike races.

 

Finally…

If a cop stops you for driving under the influence, try not to bite his finger off trying to get away. And we may have to deal with aggressive LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about leopard attacks.

Usually, anyway.

………

Happy Lunar New Year, whatever language you celebrate in! And my sympathy and prayers to all the victims of the Monterey Park shooting and their loved ones. May the new year finally bring an end to both traffic and gun violence. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

People For Bikes says sharrows suck, former CM Jose Huizar pleads to racketeering, and City Hall die-in tomorrow

January 20, 2023 / / One comment

If you’ve been reading this site for awhile, you probably know I’m not a fan of sharrows.

I’ve described them in the past as an attempt by city officials to thin the bicyclist herd, with the arrows there simply to help drivers improve their aim.

The only benefits I can ascribe to the damn things are a) they show bike riders where to position themselves to control the lane — if they’re positioned correctly — and b) as a wayfinding device to help guide people on bicycles to a given location.

But in terms of safety and protecting bicyclists’ right to the road, they’re less than worthless.

But don’t take my word for it. A 2016 study showed that sharrows are more dangerous than no bike infrastructure at all.

Now it looks like national advocacy group People For Bikes agrees.

Dave Snyder, PeopleForBikes’ senior director for infrastructure — and the former executive director of both Calbike and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition — writes that, like many of us, he fought for sharrows when they first came out.

But he became disillusioned when he saw how they worked — or rather, didn’t work — in practice.

I was wrong.

It turns out that motorists really don’t like to wait behind someone on a bike, regardless of the paint on the street. Even Oakland’s experiment with the so-called “super sharrow,” where the bicycle path of travel is painted solid green, isn’t enough to get people on bikes to comfortably “take the lane.” Sharrow or no sharrow, most people on bikes dangerously hug the edge of the roadway, squeezing themselves into the door zone to avoid blocking car traffic.

Simply put, sharrows don’t do what we hoped they would. Studies back up that claim.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the while thing.

Because maybe now we can finally drive a stake through the bike infrastructure from hell.

………

After more than four years of loudly protesting his innocence, former CD14 Councilmember Jose Huizar has agreed to plead guilty to racketeering and tax evasion.

The LA Times reports Huizar is admitting to extorting at least $1.5 million in bribes from developers. He has agreed to a sentence of between nine and 13 years behind bars.

Huizar was a driving force behind many of the bike and safety improvements in Downtown Los Angeles, and was a favorite of the bicycling community before his downfall after his offices were raided by FBI agents in 2018.

The raid also caused his wife Richelle to drop out of the race to replace him once he was termed out of office in 2020.

In a sad irony, Huizar was replaced by Kevin de León, who is facing his own calls to resign after being caught participating in a racist and otherwise offensive recording.

But at least de León hasn’t been indicted.

Not yet, anyway.

………

Don’t forget tomorrow’s die-in at City Hall! We need as many people as possible to make an impact and fight for an end to traffic violence.

And maybe protest the city’s penchant for corrupt and racist leaders while we’re at it.

No promises, but I’m going to do my best to be there.

………

Nice to see the new CD13 councilmember taking traffic violence in the City of Angels seriously.

………

A lousy parking permit is a small price to pay for the freedom of bike commuting.

https://twitter.com/UCLACommute/status/1616231749968711680

………

Norwalk Unides and the Happy City Coalition are hosting their first community bike ride tomorrow.

And the 11 am start means you can still get there after the die-in at LA City Hall.

………

Italian filmmaking great Federico Fellini was one of us.

………

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

A Michigan website reports that a man riding a bicycle was killed in a collision with a motor home, which apparently didn’t have a driver since they don’t bother to mention one.

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where an off-duty cop who killed a man riding a bike in a drunken crash was sentenced to a nine-month vacation at home home detention. Although the website seems to think her real punishment will be a lifetime of shame and humiliation. Uh, sure. Let’s go with that.

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

Hermosa Beach plans barricades to force bike riders to walk near the pier, as speed data shows that people ignore the ridiculously low 8 mph speed limit on The Strand, riding at an average speed of 11 mph. I can attest that it’s difficult to ride that slowly through there on a road bike. And how do they expect people to obey the law if they don’t have speedometers on their bikes?

………

Local 

More on West Hollywood’s proposal to extend the bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd and make at least a portion of them protected. Which would be a huge improvement over the painted car-double parking lanes we have now.

 

State

Streetsblog offers more details from Calbike on the status of California’s long-delayed ebike rebate program. Eligibility will be limited to 300% of the federal poverty level, which is based on taxable income; however, the ebike rebates appear to be based on gross income, instead.

Your new Ti touring bike from California’s District Vision could set you back a cool 30 grand. Yes, that’s $30,000.

Road Bike Action Magazine looks at the tragedy behind the 15-year old Mike Nosco Memorial Ride through the Santa Monica Mountains.

 

National

Ebike maker Velotric used WalkScore data to identify bikeable neighborhoods in not-so-bikeable US cities, including San Diego’s Gaslight District.

Bicycling asks if certified pre-owned bikes are worth the extra cost. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t appear to be available on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. Which it probably will unless you’re a subscriber.

Cycling News offers tips to make traveling with your bike cheaper and easier. Although the cheapest and easiest way to travel with a bike is still just to ride it.

Great idea. Chicago’s RideReel encourages bicyclists to submit video of close calls and hostile infrastructure, in hopes that weekly reports to city officials will bring about real change.

Inspired by motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, a then 13-year Indianapolis boy managed to set a new record by jumping ten trash cans on his balloon-tired bicycle in 1976; he’d be a 60-year old man now.

New York is also hosting a die-in this morning at the site where a young woman was killed by a truck driver while riding her bike last week, on a street that should have been fixed by now.

 

International

Road.cc takes a look at the iconic yet bizarre Flying Gate bike frame, with its upright stay post and severed seat post; the British-made steel frame has been in continuous production for nearly 90 years.

A new study from the UK shows the rising popularity of e-mountain bikes; nine out of ten people said cost was the primary barrier to participation.

Who needs pedals? A British bikemaker is introducing a road bike that you row, instead of pedal, even though the country’s Shark Tank equivalent passed on it.

An Irish website tests how long it takes for a locked-up midrange ebike to be stolen on the streets of Dublin. Short answer, about an hour.

Parisians are taking advantage of the city’s new bicycling network to bypass crippling transit strikes. Hopefully a sizable percentage will discover they like bike commuting and stick with it.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australian Michael Matthews and American Magnus Sheffield cleared the air following a “finish-line flareup” at the end of Thursday’s second stage, after jostling in the peloton caused the Aussie to drop his chain.

Australian Rohan Dennis’ brief stay as overall leader came to a quick end when his derailleur stopped working 21 miles from the end of Friday’s third stage, which ended before you got up this morning.

Australian ultracycling pro Jack Thompson set a record for riding the elevation of Mt. Everest once a week for 52 straight weeks, topping the old record of 42 successful efforts in a calendar year.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can turn an old bicycle into a 75 mph e-motorbike. When you’re riding with a semiautomatic handgun, large quantities of meth and fentanyl, and ten grand in cash on your bike in broad daylight, maybe try obeying the damn vehicle code, already.

And oddly, this is still just as true 83 years later.

………

Happy Lunar New Year, whatever language you celebrate in!

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Reseda bike rider dies of apparent natural causes; and eligibility reduced for CA ebike rebates, still no start date set

January 19, 2023 / / Comments Off on Reseda bike rider dies of apparent natural causes; and eligibility reduced for CA ebike rebates, still no start date set

Sad news from Reseda, where someone died of an apparent medical crisis while riding a bike on the sidewalk on the 7000 block of Tampa Ave Tuesday night.

Despite initial reports of a traffic collision, authorities believe the victim collapsed on their own, and was beyond medical help by the time paramedics arrived.

There’s no word on the identity of the victim.

Photo by Tucă Bianca from Pexels.

………

Calbike tells Governor Gavin Newsom that California needs more active transportation funding, not less, as he attempts to claw back half of the already approved funding in the coming budget.

And there’s still no date set for the start of California’s long-delayed ebike rebate program, though eligibility has been reduced from 400% of the federal poverty level to just 300%.

………

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, calls for volunteers for Saturday’s big die-in at LA City Hall to protest traffic violence and deaths in the City of Angels.

………

But it there was a bike path there, it would be closed.

Right?

https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1615436151309078528

………

LADOT invites you to a family friendly ride on newly improved Anaheim Street in Wilmington next month.

https://twitter.com/LADOTofficial/status/1615832535912652806

………

The East Side Riders are hosting their annual Ride 4 Love on February 11th, just three days before Valentines Day.

………

More proof that bike people are the best people.

Although that looks like a pants suit, to me.

………

We’re always told no one will ride a bike in LA’s 60° winters.

So how do you explain Londoners riding to work at 26°?

………

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

An Indiana woman faces charges for intentionally running down a man riding a bicycle, after they had allegedly had a physical confrontation at her home.

A Scottish driver was fined for throwing a tub of hair gel at a pair of bike riders, after becoming angry because they weren’t moving fast enough. Either that, or he was kindly assisting them with the inevitable helmet hair at the end of their ride. 

Well, that’s a new one. Residents of an oceanfront British town formed a conga line to protest a new segregated bike lane.

https://twitter.com/LiamFox/status/1487409022600945665

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

A dozen or so teenaged bike riders stormed the San Francisco Bay Bridge, popping wheelies and swerving through traffic on the roadway where bikes are banned, before being escorted off the bridge by the CHP.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cnf3pvDBmmd/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=0462d8c9-86ba-4841-97f1-eea98f2b2a14

The US Marshall’s Service pats themselves on the back for capturing their Fugitive of the Week for November 30th, after arresting a repeat flasher who failed to register as a sex offender, and attempted to escape from authorities on his bicycle. And failed.

………

Local 

Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry took their two-year old daughter on a cold weather bike ride to the Los Angeles Zoo.

WeHoVille encouraged “residents and renters who’ve voiced their dismay” over proposed bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd and Fountain Ave to make themselves heard at last night’s meeting to present a feasibility study on the bike lanes. Because evidently, their belief that the bike lanes are infeasible should outweigh whatever the study shows.

LA County has ordered a safety study of two Altadena roads after a pair pf pedestrian deaths; reports on Holliston and Fair Oaks avenues are due back in 45 days.

The annual San Francisco to Los Angeles AIDS/Lifecycle fundraising ride will end near the Santa Monica Pier this year. Although I wonder how much that has to do with the death of Glen Brown in a solo fall at the end of last year’s ride in LA’s Fairfax district. 

Cycling Tips profiles Compton’s own Rahsaan Bahati, after the Black former national cycling champ founded his Bahati Foundation to get more people on bikes who look like him.

 

State

A Bay Area TV station says Marin County bike thieves are using sophisticated tools to steal bike from garages with glass windows, cutting a small hole in the glass, then inserting a long hook to defeat the lock. Doesn’t sound that sophisticated to me, but what do I know?

A Bay Area man will face a murder charge for intentionally crashing into a 52-year old man riding a bike three years ago; the passenger in his car testified that 40-year old Ric Acosta announced he was going to run the victim down; he had to wrestle the wheel from Acosta to keep him from running over the victim a second time.

Heartbreaking story from Oakland, where a local website examines the 35 lives lost to traffic violence last year. Maybe if every city did that, we might have fewer of them. 

 

National

Momentum offers a “quick and easy” guide to bike fenders, while a writer for CyclingNews provides lessons learned while traveling with a bike.

A Portland artist says he didn’t mean to offend anyone with his installations of all-white children’s bicycles as part of an anti-violence campaign, not realizing the significance ghost bike-like white bikes have for the bicycling community.

Seattle’s Rad Power Bikes is introducing a three-wheeled e-cargo bike for stability-challenged riders.

Tempe, Arizona’s new Culdesac development is intended to provide a walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented community of 761 apartments with blissfully carfree streets.

A Las Vegas nurse says she was just in the right place at the right time to save the life of a 61-year old man who suffered a massive heart attack while riding his bike.

Another Las Vegas bike rider wasn’t so lucky, the victim of a DUI driver who was on her way to the methadone clinic when she smashed into him at 4 am, before flipping her car.

A San Antonio, Texas man credits his Apple Watch with saving his life when he broke his femur failing to make a corner on his bike in the rain; his watch automatically called paramedics, and gave his exact location when he didn’t know where he was.

The parents of a three-year old girl killed riding her bike in a Chicago bike lane last year have filed a lawsuit against the city alleging “willful and wanton misconduct” for failing to maintain the bike lane, as well as against the power company whose driver parked in the bike lane, forcing the family into the traffic lane where the girl was killed by the driver of a semi-truck.

Speaking of Chicago, the city will begin a pilot program using city-owned cameras to ticket drivers who park in bus and bike lanes.

They get it. The Houston Chronicle says it may seem counterintuitive to slow traffic and remove lanes on a major Houston street, but it makes perfect sense when you consider the purpose is to save lives. Hint: Try stopping the page as soon as it loads to get around the paper’s paywall.

Contemporary Christian singer Amy Grant says she’s still suffering from memory loss following her July bike crash in Nashville, forgetting the lyrics to her songs and even the death of a longtime friend’s husband.

Video show the admitted killer of eight people in an ISIS-inspired attack running with what turned out to be fake guns at the end of his 14-block rampage on a New York bike path; Sayfullo Saipov is on trial to determine whether he will be executed for his crimes.

 

International

Road.cc recommends their picks for the best winter road bikes. Because evidently, N+1 dictates different bikes for fair and foul weather.

Bike Radar offers eight tips they wish they knew before they started mountain biking. Here’s one more — make sure your health insurance is up to date. Because sooner or later, you’ll need it. 

Talk about a silver lining. More Europeans are turning to bicycles and e-scooters to combat rising energy prices, with 69% of motorists now using their cars less than before.

The next time you can’t find a safe place to lockup your bike, try not to think about Amsterdam’s new 7,000 space underwater bike parking garage. 

A bicycling group slammed plans for an elevated bike and pedestrian pathway through Brussel’s European Quarter, calling it an unneeded vanity project.

A new Japanese study shows that traveling farther distances by walking or cycling may help older adults prevent early functional disability and mortality.

This is why you don’t try to stop a bike thief yourself. A 16-year old Australian boy is on trial for fatally stabbing a man who was trying to stop him from stealing a kids bike; he was reportedly overheard confessing the crime to his best friend by the other boy’s mother.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australia’s Grace Brown beat Amanda Spratt in a sprint to win the final stage of the women’s Tour Down Under, topping the podium for the three-stage race.

Rain put a damper on the men’s Tour Down Under prologue won by Italy’s Alberto Bettiol; Australia’s Rohan Dennis won stage 2.

Bicycling reports competitors in the Tour Down Under’s individual time trial went out of their way to bend the rules prohibiting time trial bikes. Read it on AOL, which somehow still exists, if the magazine blocks you.

British pro James Knox was kicked off the Tour Down Under for drafting on a team car after he crashed; needless to say, he was not pleased.

Mark Cavendish will get one more chance to set the record for most stage wins at the Tour de France after signing with Astana-Qazaqstan; the 37-year old pro from the Isle of Man is currently tied with the legendary Eddy Merckx at 34 stage wins. As it turns out, I have something in common with Cav, since the Isle of Man is my family’s ancestral home, as well. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when authorities attempt to thin the herd by placing a power pole in the middle of a cycle track. Or when you’re driving drunk on three wheels, when you should have four.

And more proof you can haul ass on your bike.

Or a donkey, anyway.

https://twitter.com/MazaCiclismo/status/1615380185171349506

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Westlake hit-and-run victim in coma after 2 months, 7 candidates for CD6 special election, and bicycle Bollywood dancing

January 13, 2023 / / One comment

This is the cost of traffic violence.

A comment from J reports the victim of November hit-and-run may be moved to hospice care, following two months in a coma after a heartless coward left him bleeding in the street in LA’s Westlake neighborhood.

Luis Varela was just crossing street at Wilshire Boulevard and Park View Street around 7 pm on Nov. 11th when he was run down by the driver of a dark-colored SUV.

As usual, there is a $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injury. That will rise to $50,000 if he dies of his injuries.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign started by Varela’s brother has raised just $1,325 of the $100,000 goal to help pay his medical expenses, and bring his mother in from out of the country to care for him.

The driver who left him there to die should be responsible for that.

And should get locked up for a lot longer than California’s lenient hit-and-run laws will allow.

But won’t be.

………

There are now seven people officially qualified to run in the special election to replace former City Council President Nury Martinez, who resigned following the public leak of the racist and otherwise offensive recording she was heard on, along with two other councilmembers.

Which serves as a reminder that the lone remaining councilmember heard on the recording, CD14’s Kevin de León, still won’t do the right thing and resign.

https://twitter.com/DavidZahniser/status/1613734893040852993

………

Norwalk is hosting its first community bike ride next Saturday.

………

Well, it wouldn’t be the first crappy bike path I’ve been on.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

Look Ma, no hands!

An Indian woman takes Bollywood dancing to the next level by doing it while she rides handsfree.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnQ1QoeK5X_/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=b8c0d1ba-e1c3-4fcd-a3ed-1e074727506c

Then she does it again.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmlXZoOqX3X/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=8f63a427-c0d3-4217-bb35-0724d019d08c

………

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

Seriously? Residents of Alexandria, Louisiana bring out the torches and pitchforks over a proposal for a bike path along the Red River levee, which would only occupy an otherwise useless strip of land that probably wouldn’t inconvenience anyone.

This is the cost of traffic violence, too. After a Georgia bike rider was struck by a driver, a group of bystanders gathered around him to pray. Then just when he started to breathe again, another driver plowed into the group, sending six people to the hospital, with one in critical condition. And we can probably guess who that one is.  

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

A 75-year old London letter writer complains about “rogue” bicyclists who refuse to use bike lanes when there is a more convenient, but less legal, option available, writing “If people keep on demanding cycle lanes, then why do they not use the damn things?” Because it’s human nature to use a short cut when you find one.

………

Local 

Streets For All has created a voter guide to help yo select pro-transit candidates for the ADEM party delegate election, for all you Democrats out there.

More from the report prepared by the nonprofit Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, we mentioned Wednesday, which addresses the rising rate of traffic violence in Los Angeles. Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the die-in protest scheduled on Saturday, January 21st on the steps of the Los Angeles City Hall. Because the City of Angels keeps insisting on making more of them.

 

State

The LA Times agrees with California Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to reduce spending to close a projected $22.5 billion budget deficit, but argues the state will need to make up for the $6 billion cut in climate change funding, including investments in public transit, bike and pedestrian projects.

A nice biking photo claimed runner-up in Laguna Beach’s recent photo contest  for people who live, work or exhibit their art in the city.

Public TV station KBPS has more on San Diego County’s plan to revitalize unincorporated Casa de Oro with wider sidewalks, on-street parking, roundabouts, protected bicycle lanes, and mixed-use housing.

Sad news from Fresno, where a man was killed in a collision while riding his bike late Wednesday night.

A Bay Area bike advocate and behavioral counselor is using Legos to teach kids bike safety.

Now you, too, can be the proud owner of a gently used, $4,000 Rock the Bike Fender Blender Pro Recharge Station that the former World’s Richest Man apparently doesn’t want, for the low, low opening bid of just 25 bucks. Then again, Elon may need the money. 

 

National

Shades of Nipper. Your next throttle-controlled, dirt bike-style ebike could be distracted by listening to its master’s voice, as RCA makes a leap into electric bikes. Let’s hope its better than their electronics have been in recent decades. 

PinkBike reminisces about the things they miss about older bikes, like external cabling and not having to charge anything. Except the bike itself, when you paid for it. 

A new study of Google searches concludes that residents of Hawaii are the most curious about ebikes, with California second and Utah third; Mississippi residents were the least interested.

Salt Lake City announced plans to join the national Vision Zero Network in the face of rising traffic deaths and injuries. Let’s hope they actually fund and implement the program, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name.

A new bill signed by President Biden at the end of last year will allow the construction of a 280-mile wilderness bike trail stretching from the Idaho border to south of Salt Lake City.

Police in Durango, Colorado have charged a pair of football players from the local college as co-defendants in an alleged drunken hit-and-run that took the life of a firefighter; the two are accused of helping a third man flee the scene, leaving his car behind with the victim still lodged in the car’s windshield, and his bike stuck underneath.

You know a Chicago intersection sucks when a reckless driver kills a man riding a bikeshare bike, then a year later another jerk takes out his ghost bike.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. Indianapolis is setting up a commission to review fatal traffic collisions, and offer public recommendations to fix them.

 

International

Bike Radar sings the praises of mountain bike winter onesies. Otherwise known as snow suits. 

An Argentine man’s tour of the Western Hemisphere is on hold after someone stole his bike in Mexicali, just south of the US border, when he stopped briefly to get hot water to make mate tea; to make matters worse, they also took the dog he adopted along the way in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

No irony here. Ford has stepped up to save the popular RideLondon from the chopping block, with the American carmaker funding the ten-year old event that takes place on 100 miles of carfree streets.

The Guardian takes a guided ebike tour along ancient singletrack trails in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in a section of Britain so remote they still use the Julian calendar. Just don’t stick around if you see the locals building a giant wicker man. 

Bicycle Dutch looks at the effect the pandemic had on bicycling in the Netherlands, where bicycling rates dropped 21% in 2021 compared to the pre-pandemic 2019.

The BBC recommends riding a bike to explore the hidden history of Louis XIV’s iconic bachelor pad, otherwise known as Versailles.

Who says bicycling is expensive? A new Spanish-made Ti bike with “additive 3D printing” retails for anywhere from the equivalent of ten grand to a shade under a whopping $19K.

An Aussie website previews the Women’s Santos Tour Down Under, which begins today.

 

Competitive Cycling

No surprise here, unfortunately, as a Dutch study has shown a high prevalence of low bone density in the pro cycling peloton. If bicycling is your primary form of exercise, you should think about adding weight training and/or high impact exercises. 

It looks like we finally have a winner for all those Tour de France titles Lance unwillingly vacated.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you’re so drunk, you think a backflip will get you out of a DUI. Seriously, who doesn’t love a stirring march played by a bike-riding Dutch marching band in wooden shoes?

And save all your old bike parts, and maybe you, too, can build your very own F-35.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1613734929178972160

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Weigh in on whether to reopen Highway 39, ActiveSGV is hiring, and bike rider struck by driver during live Twitch session

January 12, 2023 / / 3 comments

Streetsblog’s Chris Greenspon reports you have until Monday to weigh in on how — or whether — to reopen Highway 39 in the San Gabriel Mountains.

The highway has been closed for the past 45 years following “massive mud and rock slides caused by heavy rains and floods.”

Greenspon writes that the closed roadway has long been a popular bucket list ride for many area bicyclists, and part of the more than 90-mile “Circle of Doom” loop.

The choices presented by Caltrans include a no build option, as well as options for emergency vehicles only, or active transportation use. Other choices include a full reopening, building a separate viaduct, or a single travel lane through the currently closed section.

Depending on the final decision, the rebuild could cost anywhere from $175-$325 million.

The question is why the road should be reopened at all, since the past nearly five decades have shown it isn’t really needed.

Do the absolute minimum to make it safer for hiking and biking, and leave it the hell alone.

I’m not sure where I found today’s generic mountain biking photo, but here it is anyway.

………

Here’s your chance to make a real difference for active transportation in the San Gabriel Valley, with one of SoCal’s most effective advocacy groups.

https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1613294692162060290

I can balance a checkbook most of the time. Does that count?

………

This is what it looks like when a Japanese influencer gets hit by a motorist while doing a live Twitch stream.

Fortunately, he wasn’t seriously injured, although it clearly hurt. A lot.

https://twitter.com/joshuinjapan/status/1613068137557282822?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1613068137557282822%7Ctwgr%5E74b3b24f0980c48ed10bd38f7e02d3a5bdb62e68%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dexerto.com%2Fentertainment%2Ftwitch-streamer-hit-by-car-while-riding-bike-during-japan-irl-stream-2030392%2F

………

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

Good question. The Guardian’s Peter Walker wonders why plans to reduce traffic attract so many conspiracy theorists, as a project in Oxford, England is attacked as a global plot to strip people of their fundamental rights and personal possessions in the name of the environment.

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

No bias here. A bike-riding Karen goes ballistic, apparently because a man was walking his dog in a bike lane. Then a New York councilmember displays her own ugly prejudice by painting all bike riders with the same brush. Thanks to Ravener for the heads-up. 

A Florida man faces charges for a months-long hate-filled tirade against his gay neighbors, repeatedly riding his bike in front of their home shouting anti-gay slurs, as well as violently resisting arrest when police finally came for him.

Britain’s Daily Mail plays their twisted game of “Who was at fault?” when a salmon bicyclist rounds a corner and hits another London bike rider head-on. Hint: The one riding on the wrong side of the road. 

………

Local 

No news is good new, right?

 

State

California Governor Gavin Newsom is addressing an anticipated $22 billion budget shortfall by cutting costs, including clawing back funding for projects promised under the state’s Active Transportation Program.

A new land use plan for San Diego’s Casa de Oro neighborhood means residents can soon expect “roundabouts, bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly developments.”

Morgan Hill-based Specialized is joining the growing list of bike companies laying off workers; the company plans to let go of eight percent of workers worldwide, with around 120 US workers getting the axe.

Bad news from Modesto, where a man riding a BMX bike was killed in a head-on collision, after allegedly riding onto the wrong side of the road to pass a slow moving semi. The CHP naturally saw that as an opportunity to remind bike riders to wear a helmet, as if a thin plastic beanie could protect someone from a head-on crash with a motor vehicle. And yes, I believe in using a bike helmet, but they were designed to protect against slow speed falls, not crashes with cars. 

A San Francisco news site questions the effectiveness of the city’s Vision Zero program, in the wake of the city’s deadliest year in a decade.

SF Gate recommends a day trip pedaling to the Marin Museum of Bicycling in downtown Fairfax, as well as the US Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis.

 

National

Bicycling says your Strava subscription is about to go up another four bucks a month, as the popular bicycling and endurance sports app lays off nearly 40 people. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Outside recommends gear to keep you riding through the winter, although the gear required to ride in usually sunny SoCal may be a tad different than what you’ll need in colder climes. After all, you don’t want to get a frostbitten “todger,” like a certain spare former prince says he did.

Habitat Magazine suggests building fireproof bike storage rooms as a possible solution to ebike battery fires.

This is what’s possible, Los Angeles. The company that operates the arena that’s home to Portland’s NBA team and dozens of other events is opposing a new offramp that could make a dangerous nearby intersection even worse, especially since half of their guests arrive by bicycle or on foot. There’s no reason The Crypt or the Coliseum couldn’t do the same with better infrastructure.

Security video shows a Colorado man get off an elevator and throw his bike at a light rail train from a snowy station, apparently because he missed the train. Although he didn’t miss it with his bike, causing $6,000 in damage.

Tragic news from Rhode Island, where a Brown University student was found dead from a broken back a day after he was reported missing; he was apparently riding in a construction zone closed to the public when he came off his bike.

New York is finally getting around to installing bike parking at the city’s subway stations, but only one in Manhattan.

The New York nonprofit behind the city’s extremely popular Five Boro Bike Tour is donating refurbished bicycles, helmets and locks to help refugees and other immigrants get settled in the Big Apple.

A pair of Argentine men describe how five of their friends were slaughtered in the 2017 vehicular terrorist attack on a Manhattan bike path; the group was celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation in New York when Sayfullo Saipov allegedly ran them down.

A 29-year old Florida woman is charged with hit-and-run and DUI manslaughter for killing a bike rider in November; investigators used geolocation data to show she’d been drinking, placing her at a number of bars in the hours prior to the crash.

 

International

CityLab examines the world’s most congested cities, where motor vehicle traffic grinds to a halt on a regular basis. Surprisingly, Los Angeles doesn’t even make the top ten, though Chicago, New York, Philly and Boston do. Neither does Mexico City, which consistently makes, if not tops, other similar lists. 

The New York Times says sales of electric vehicles are booming around the world. But you have to get down to the last paragraph before learning that Americans bought twice as many ebikes as e-cars in 2020 — and there are ten times as many electric scooters, mopeds and motorcycles on the world’s roads than there are electric cars.

Škoda’s We Love Cycling recommends six bicycling-inspired movies to watch when you’re too tired to ride. Although despite the picture, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid isn’t one of them, even if it should be.

Speaking of Prince Harry and his “todger,” Britain’s naked cross-country bicyclist says there’s no better place to lose your virginity than an open field, as the young prince says he did.

Road.cc offers a tutorial on hybrid bikes, the best-selling type of bike in the UK.

Honda unveils a trio of moped-style ebikes for sale in China, each of which does in fact have pedals; the bikes could eventually be sold in Europe and the rest of Asia.

This is why you shouldn’t try to reclaim a stolen bike yourself. A 15-year old Australian boy is on trial for fatally stabbing a 42-year old man who was trying to retrieve a bicycle stolen from a ten-year old boy.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australia’s Tour Down Under makes its return this weekend, with the women’s three-stage race kicking off on Sunday, and the men starting Tuesday.

 

Finally…

Pedaling vegan doughnuts to Texans. That feeling when your vintage bicycle turns out to be a 95-year old time trial bike.

And when is a planter-protected bike lane not a bike lane?

When some schmuck turns it into his own private motorway.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Streets For All happy hour tonight, LA die-in to protest record traffic deaths, and crashes cost Americans $340 billion yearly

January 11, 2023 / / 3 comments

Say hello to my councilmember at tonight’s Streets For All virtual happy hour.

And tell her we need more protected bike lanes, fewer cars and a safe crosstown bikeway. 

Among many other things.

………

As I was working on today’s post, I received a press release from Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, the traffic safety advocacy umbrella group supporting Damien Kevitt’s Finish The Ride. 

What they have to say is important enough that I am including the entire press release verbatim.

Because too damn many people are dying on the mean streets of Los Angeles. And not enough is being done to change that. 

 

2022 Traffic Fatalities are at a Record High
A Report on Why and What Needs to Change to Start Saving Lives

Streets Are For Everyone, a Southern California-based road safety advocacy group has released a report called “Dying on the Streets of Los Angeles” about traffic fatalities in LA for 2022. The number of people killed in traffic violence on the streets of Los Angeles has seen record highs.

The report breaks down the numbers, who’s been most impacted, and what’s behind the numbers. More importantly, the report lays out 4 action items that Mayor Bass and the LA City Council need to take to start turning these numbers around.

Highlights of “Dying on the Streets of Los Angeles”

(The full report, including links to source data, can be found on the Streets Are For Everyone website by clicking here.)

There were 309 traffic fatalities in 2022, breaking the 300 mark for the first time in over 20 years, which is how far back we have records. This was an increase of five percent from the previous year and a staggering 28% increase over 2020.

Source: City of Los Angeles Open Data Portal. Taken from LAPD records. 2022 figures are preliminary and subject to change as data is reviewed and finalized.

This is a tragedy made worse by the fact that vulnerable road users – pedestrians and cyclists – are impacted the most by traffic violence in Los Angeles. Pedestrian fatalities were up by 19% (157 lives lost, also the highest in 20 years). Bicycle fatalities also increased by 24% (21 lives lost).

LA’s Unhoused are Killed FAR More by Traffic Violence

On average (2018-2022), housed pedestrians and cyclists in Los Angeles are killed at a rate of 2.9 per capita (100,000 individuals), a significantly higher rate than the national average of 2.2 per capita. However, on average (2018-2022), 116.6 unhoused individuals per capita are killed by traffic violence every year. That is 40.2X more than housed pedestrians and cyclists in Los Angeles and 53X the national average.

What is Behind the Numbers? SPEED!

We wanted to see what was behind these fatalities — what were the primary collision factors (PCF), as they are called by law enforcement. The resounding answer is speed. Speeding is the primary collision factor in 34.8% of the collisions in LA, resulting in some degree of injury or fatalities. Speed has been the largest PCF every year since 2010 but has worsened significantly since 2020.

Source: TIMS

Vision Zero on Life Support

The Vision Zero strategy was initiated in 2015 by the then mayor, Eric Garcetti, to protect the most vulnerable road users and reduce traffic fatalities to zero by 2025. It launched with an impressive roll-out of grand plans, but, by statistics, it has largely been a failure, suffering from a lack of political will, lack of funding, and now, severe staff shortages.

In the 2022-2023 LA City fiscal budget, $50.6 million was allocated to LA DOT for Vision Zero related projects. This is a drop in the bucket compared to what cities that are serious about saving lives spend. For example, the City of New York, with fewer miles of streets – 6300 miles in New York City compared to 6614 miles in LA City – spent over $270 million on its Vision Zero program in the 2019 fiscal year alone. It also had fewer traffic fatalities than Los Angeles in 2021 (273 in NY compared to 294 in LA) with twice the number of people living there.

To make things worse in LA, due to a severe staffing shortage at LA DOT — per a May 2022 LAist Article, 50% of the Vision Zero and Active Transportation positions remain unfilled — approximately 15 million dollars for traffic signal upgrades was left unspent in 2021. That money rolled over to the 2022 budget. Many of those positions are still yet to be filled due to an understaffed and overloaded City of LA Personnel Department.

What Needs to be Done

If Mayor Bass and our City Councilmembers, many of them newly elected, are serious about actually saving lives on the streets of Los Angeles, they are going to have to make some drastic changes related to Vision Zero, not just for one year but for many years. SAFE’s 4 recommendations are:

  1. Cut the Bureaucracy.
  2. Reestablish Vision Zero with Accountability, Transparency, and PURPOSE.
  3. Prioritize Lives over the Right to Speed.
  4. Get Real About the Magnitude of the Problem.

The details of these 4 action items are contained in the full report. As broad strokes, all of these recommendations are vital. We — at SAFE, the citizens of Los Angeles, and the media — will know how much our elected officials actually care about the importance of saving lives in Los Angeles by how much these recommendations are embraced.

Dying-In LA, a Protest for Safe Streets

On the morning of Saturday, 21 January 2023, (weather permitting) SAFE along with many other concerned non-profits and community groups will be holding a die-in protest/press conference on the steps of City Hall to follow up and voice our demands for effective action to save lives on the streets of Los Angles.

Participating organizations will include Bike LA, So Cal Families for Safe Streets, Streets for All, Move LA, Street Racing Kills, Faith for SAFEr Streets, Walk n Rollers, Conor Lynch Foundation, SBBC+, and others.

For details about the die-in click here.

Anyone who wishes to participate in the protest can sign-up here.

………

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, reports that traffic collisions cost American society a whopping $340 billion in 2019, or more than $1,000 per person on the country.

Three-quarters of that amount is paid by people who aren’t directly involved in the crashes, through higher insurance premiums, taxes, lost time from road congestion, excess fuel consumption and environmental impacts.

Which means that you pay the cost of traffic violence, even if you don’t own a car.

………

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton took a deep dive into Metro’s plan to “improve” the SR-57/SR-60 interchange, offering six detailed reasons why the Metro Board should drive a stake through the damn thing’s heart — including that the minimal bike infrastructure they recently added doesn’t meet, let alone improve on, the bicycling component of Diamond Bar’s general plan.

It’s long past time to stop flushing our tax money down the toilet with climate-damaging, congestion-inducing highway projects.

Let alone projects that increase freeway speed, resulting in even more traffic violence and deaths.

………

That feeling when your new ebike arrives looking like it fell off the truck.

But surprisingly turns out okay, anyway.

………

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

No bias here. The speaker of the North Carolina House says Charlotte NC needs to focus on road capacity, not bike lanes, if the city wants support from the legislature, even after a 30-year old woman was killed by a driver while riding an ebike.

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

Of all the many practical uses for a bicycle, throwing one at a moving train usually isn’t considered one of them. Police in Colorado are looking for a man who tossed his bike at a moving train, causing $6,000 in damage.

………

Local 

The NRDC calls plans to build bus lanes and extend the protected bike lanes on Venice Blvd, among other transportation improvements, a win for transportation and the climate.

KFI’s conservative Jon and Ken are supporting a petition calling for new CD11 Councilmember Traci Park to kick homeless people off the popular Culver Bike Path.

Pasadena approved plans to spend $182,700 for a citywide traffic safety media and outreach campaign. Because apparently, it’s more effective to tell people to drive safely than to fix the streets to ensure they do.

 

State

Popular Dallas Fort Worth bike shop Cadence Cyclery has opened their fifth location, and first outside of Texas, on Highway 101 in Encinitas.

Students at Cal Berkeley are pushing a proposal to ban cars from a few blocks of iconic Telegraph Ave above the university.

This is who we share the road with. Or maybe what, as video captures a Tesla in Full Self Driving mode suddenly swerve into the left lane and brake to a stop in front of oncoming traffic on the San Francisco Bay Bridge, causing a massive chain reaction crash. But somehow, we’re supposed to believe these cars are safe enough to ride a bike next to. Then again, they’re probably no worse than many of the human drivers we share the road with.

San Francisco proposes banning traffic stops for nine minor violations that are frequently used for pretext stops, in a city where Blacks make up just 5% of the population but account for 19% of traffic stops.

 

National

They say that like it’s a bad thing. Fox News reports the Biden Administration wants Americans to walk and bike more in an effort to eliminate climate harming emissions by 2050.

In a story that could just as well come from Los Angeles — or virtually any other American city — a Northwest website says dangerous drivers make commuting difficult for Seattle bicyclists, in part due to drivers parking in unprotected bike lanes. Although here in LA, they park in the protected ones, too. 

Michigan’s Detroit Bikes is taking deposits on their new 32-pound, belt drive American-made ebike, which doesn’t look at all like one. Meanwhile, ebike prices continue to drop, as SWFT reduces the price of their e-cruiser bike to just $650.

No longer the Mistake by the Lake, Cleveland approves $54 million in bikeway improvements, including a 4.3-mile protected bike lane and a 1.7-mile off-street two-way cycle track.

More proof just how worthless sharrows are, as a New York woman riding a bikeshare ebike was killed when she was rear-ended by a truck driver, after the protected bike lane she was riding in suddenly ended and became sharrows, forcing her into the traffic lane in front of the driver who killed her.

Two women from Belgium testified in the terrorism trial of 34-year old Sayfullo Saipov, who is accused of killing eight people in a murderous rampage driving a rented pickup down a Manhattan bike path; one of the women lost her sister in the attack, while the other lost both legs.

Life is cheap in Florida, where a West Palm Beach drawbridge operator was sentenced to spend a whole two days behind bars, after accepting a manslaughter plea in the death of a bike-riding woman who fell through the gap when the bridge opened while she was on it. But she walked right away, anyway, after being released on time served.

 

International

A Toronto mom couldn’t find a bike helmet to fit her Sikh sons’ turbans, so she did what any other mom would do — design and build her own.

No surprise here, as a new study shows the UK is hopelessly locked into car culture, with 47% saying they have no alternative to owning a car, and 71% says they expect to always own one.

An Irish semi truck driver changed his plea to guilty on a reduced count of careless driving in the death of a 54-year old man who went over his handlebars after the driver passed him with less than 20 inches to spare; the judge has told him to expect jail time when he’s sentenced next month.

Copenhagen-based Newton-Rider is introducing what they call the first foldable, semi-soft bike helmet, which uses a proprietary non-Newtonian thermoplastic elastomer to protect your skull.

An eight-year old Indian girl is nearing the end of a nearly 3,000-mile bicycle ride from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, accompanied by her bike-riding father, to call attention to the need to “Save the girl child” and protect the environment.

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a truck driver faces just three months behind bars after being charged with careless driving in the death of a 28-year old woman riding a bike.

The Guardian conveniently helps you plan your next tour Down Under, with a guide to the best place to ride a bike in Australia for every month of the year.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Isle of Wight won’t be included in this year’s Tour of Britain, despite speculation after the final leg of last year’s race, which was scheduled for the Island, was cancelled when Queen Elizabeth died.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be made of plywood. That feeling when a bike ride turns into an opera on two wheels.

And a new book tells the true story of setting out for a short bike ride to get over a breakup, and coming back home two years later.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,
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