Tag Archive for Los Angeles

Bike-riding NHL star and brother killed by accused drunk driver, and transportation safety bills on governor’s desk

September 9, 2024 / / 2 comments

We’re back, more or less. 

I’ve been out for over a month after surgery to replace two tendon and fix a number of tears in my right shoulder. I’m now looking at a long recovery, with six months of rehab before I’m back to normal, let alone get back on a bike.

Or whatever passes for normal at my age. 

I’ll do my best to keep this site going on a regular basis, but may face some issues going forward depending on how well rehab goes. 

Before we move on, though, let’s take a moment to consider that the new tendons holding my shoulder together came from caring people who donated their bodies after death.

We tend to think of organ donation as involving hearts and lungs, livers and kidneys. But corneas, skin, bones and yes, tendons, also stem from that same kindness. 

And I couldn’t be more grateful for them. 

So if you haven’t signed your organ donor card, what the hell are you waiting for?

Now let’s catch up on some of the bigger stories we missed over the past 34 days, before we get back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

Photo by Tembela Bohle from Pexels. 

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Just 113 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Let’s start with the biggest — and worst — news of the last month.

It was just over a week ago that 31-year old NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his 29-year old brother Matthew were killed by an (allegedly) extremely drunk driver while they were riding their bikes in New Jersey.

The brothers were run down on a rural road in Oldmans Township on Thursday, August 30th, the night before they were supposed to be groomsmen in their sister’s wedding.

Needless to say, the wedding is off for now.

They were run down from behind after the driver, identified as 43-year old Sean Higgins, passed one car on the left, then attempted to pass an SUV on the right when it moved left to go around the Gaudreaus.

Higgins failed a field sobriety test, telling police he had five or six beers before the crash, and that his drinking probably contributed to “his impatience and reckless driving.”

He was arrested at the scene, and charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle.

Higgins serves as a Major in the US National Guard, while working for a nonprofit substance abuse treatment center. Which means he should have known the risk of driving under the influence.

A crowdfunding campaign for Matthew Gaudreau’s wife, Madeline, who is pregnant with their first child, has raised nearly $645,000 — over 21 times the $30,000 goal.

Meanwhile, USA Today points out that the NHL star was just one of hundreds of bicyclists killed in the US each year — make that over 1,000 in 2022, actually — while Streetsblog says the real story is the systematic failures that led to the Gaudreau brothers deaths.

And the BBC issued a non-apology, saying they were sorry a bicyclist “did not appreciate” their headline which called the crash an “accident.”

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Streetsblog offers an update on transportation bills on the governor’s desk after being approved by the legislature, including:

  • SB 960 requires Caltrans to follow their own Complete Streets policies
  • SB 961 is a severely watered-down version of the bill which would have forced automakers to prevent drivers from speeding more than ten miles over the speed limit; the law now just requires an audible warning
  • SB 1297 extends the states speed cam pilot program to PCH in Malibu
  • SB 1261 limits the placement of sharrows to streets with speed limits of 30 mph or less
  • SB 689 eliminates the need for a separate Coastal Commission study in order to convert a traffic lane to a bike or transit lane
  • SB 1271 requires that only ebikes with UL or EU certification can be sold in the state

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While we were gone, the Glendale City Council narrowly approved the city’s draft transportation plan, along with safety improvements to La Crescenta Ave, after an extremely contentious debate.

Meanwhile, Glendale will consider a a proposal to build the nine-mile Arroyo Verdugo Greenway at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

In 2021 the City began a high-level study which envisioned the Wash as a nine mile green space from its confluence with the LA River up to Crescenta Valley Park. It includes bike and pedestrian trails with access to business and entertainment venues, and connects several important city centers, services and a multitude of neighborhoods that make up a large core of Glendale.

Walk Bike Glendale urges you to attend or call into the meeting, or email the individual council members in advance.

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Streets For All is hosting a virtual Mobility Debate with the candidates for the Burbank City Council Thursday Evening.

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Once again, the Los Angeles County Sheriff department demonstrated how little their deputies know about bike law, when former LA-based pro Phil Gaimon — star of the Worst Retirement Ever videos on YouTube — had to educate one on why the ticket he was about to get was against the law.

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It’s now 263 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 39 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

After a 14-year old boy was seriously injured by a garbage truck driver while riding to school in La Mesa, California, the city’s NBC station demonstrated how to get the story wrong, with a headline suggesting the boy collided with the truck, rather than the other way around. Nope, no bias there.

A road-raging 19-year old Zion, Utah woman chased down a bike rider and rammed him with her car as he tried to flee, after arguing and spitting at her when she ran a stop sign and nearly hit him. Evidently, she felt a crashing need to finish what she’d started. 

When a road raging driver attacked a group of Black Baltimore bicyclists with bear spray, the community responded with a love ride.

Police in Dublin, Ireland are investigating an apparent road rage attack by a driver who pushed a bicyclist up against a barrier and repeatedly hit him with his fists as bystanders tried to stop the attack.

A 59-year old German man was arrested for sabotaging mountain bike trails by stringing wire across them to fell unwary riders; for once, the charges fit the crime, booked on suspicion of attempted murder. Velo says attacks like that are not something you need to fret about, though.

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

A bike-raging New York bicyclist was busted for allegedly punching a woman jogger in the face after they argued when his handlebars made contact with her as she ran in the opposite direction on an Eastchester bike path.

A British woman says it made her ashamed to ride a bicycle when another rider crashed into her after jumping a red light, and called her a “stupid bitch.”

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Local 

The New York Times considers whether Los Angeles can really pull off a carfree Olympics just four years from now. Short answer, no. Longer answer, hell no.

Caltrans is still conducting its Pacific Coast Highway Master Plan Feasibility Study to determine just what safety improvements people want — or rather, are willing to tolerate. So if you bike, walk or drive along PCH in Malibu, you owe it to yourself and everyone else to take part. 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton examines the first six months since Measure HLA passed with overwhelming support, mandating the city to build out the eight-year old mobility plan whenever a street gets resurfaced. So far the news isn’t good, with work on Reseda Blvd moving forward while everything else stalled out — including the city’s workaround on Vermont Ave in South LA to avoid triggering HLA.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge summarily denied a CEQA lawsuit from Friends and Families for MOVE Culver City to keep Culver City from removing the protected bike lanes through downtown, calling it “the weakest petition (he’s) ever seen in an environmental case;” the group vowed to appeal.

WeHo Times reports on a “tumultuous” community meeting to discuss bike lane designs on Willoughby, Vista/Gardner and Kings Street; as usual, most of the complaints centered on parking and outreach. The city also accepted an $8.2 million grant for transportation and safety improvements, including Fountain Ave, where protected bike lanes are planned.

Santa Monica is dropping speed limits on over 30 miles of streets to improve safety.

The southwest San Gabriel Valley is moving closer to a Metro-funded improvement project linking the First Street, Riggin Street and Potrero Grande Drive corridor, including 5.3 miles of bike lanes through Rosemead, South San Gabriel, Montebello and Monterey Park.

LA County received over $60 million in grants for safety improvement projects, including projects in Long Beach, Palmdale and South LA.

The LA Times picks up the story of how Bike Index’s Bryan Hance uncovered an international bike theft ring on his own when authorities didn’t give a shit show any interest.

 

State

Calbike talks with Wes Marshall, author of the new book, Killed by a Traffic Engineer.

The Voice of OC questions whether deadly Beach Blvd will ever be safe for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Family members are urging any witnesses to come forward who may have seen the hit-and-run crash that critically injured 71-year old Bob Hilborn as he rode his bike in Chula Vista last month.

San Diego is conducting a survey to get input on the forthcoming bicycle master plan.

A man riding his bike on Highway 1 suffered several injuries — and got a couple traffic tickets — after falling over 100 feet when he ignored “road closed” signs and a warning that he would probably die by attempting to ride across a rock slide that shut down the highway. And he nearly did.

 

National

A new bill in Congress would finally mandate federal standards for hood height and visibility in order to protect pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside the vehicle, after research showed SUVs and trucks with high front ends and blunt profiles are 45% more likely to kill pedestrians in a crash than smaller cars and trucks.

A recent study from Oregon State University shows that the Idaho Stop Law, aka Stop as Yield, does not result in dangerous behavior by bicyclists or drivers; Velo says of course it’s safer for bicyclists. Gavin Newsom vetoed two bills that would have legalized it in California.

A new book from Rob Walker of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy looks at 20 Apps, Ideas, and Innovators Changing the Urban Landscape.

Apple TV+ premiered Ghost Bike, a short film about a mother who meets a stranger in a Greek diner, who may hold the key to solving her son’s untimely death — apparently on a bicycle.

A writer for BuzzFeed offers 22 very tongue-in-cheek reasons why wearing a helmet is “literally one of the absolute worst decisions a person can make.”

Your next ebike could be a Ford Bronco. Or maybe a Mustang.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is accused of holding up a bill to improve ebike battery safety in a misguided attempt to halt regulations he thinks could lead to a ban on gas stoves.

The New York Times examines what the city could learn from the recent reimagining of the streets of Paris.

A Miami man is on trial for murder for chasing down and fatally shooting a man as he rode in a club peloton, although the defense insists it was self-defense after he was attacked by armed bicyclists with guns that were apparently secreted in their spandex kits and mysteriously disappeared afterwards; a Key Biscayne paper somehow described the incident as occurring in “the ultra-machismo world of the Miami cycling community.”

 

International

Momentum recommends the world’s most beautiful bicycle routes; just three of the 30 routes are in the US, with none in California.

Fifty-five-year old former Canadian IndyCar driver and 2003 ChampCar World Series champion Paul Tracy suffered a dislocated shoulder and three broken vertebrae when he was struck by an SUV driver while riding his bike last week.

A 29-year old British drug dealer was sentenced to a well-deserved 14-years behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that killed a bike-riding man, before driving off to make his weed deliveries.

It turns out the ever-feuding Gallagher brothers from the newly reunited British band Oasis are two of us; Road.cc lists other bicycling musical greats and songs about bikes.

Ireland’s Finance Minister justifiably complained about a new bike shed that cost the equivalent of $372,000 to hold just 18 bikes, when a competitor could have built it for $22,000.

A new German report says distracted bicycling is on the rise, blaming it for a significant, but undetermined, increase in crash risk. Never mind that many of the 10 to 17% of bicyclists who use their smartphones while riding are probably just using navigation or bike apps. 

A new Chinese study shows how ebikes are changing the landscape of transportation, including reduced reliance on motor vehicles and improved mobility for people of all ages.

 

Competitive Cycling

A Parisian website recounts all the paracycling medal winners from the Paris Para-Olympics.

Bicycling writes that America’s Kristen Faulkner was told she had just a 6% chance of winning gold in Olympic road cycling, just before she did it. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you.

Olympic bronze medalist Wout van Aert is done for the season, after a knee injury suffered in a major crash required a series of transfusions to prevent infection.

Sad news from Las Vegas, where five-time Venezuelan Olympic cyclist Daniela Larreal Chirinos was found dead in her home during a welfare check, at age 51, after not being seen for several days; she apparently died from choking on her food.

Six bicycles “beyond any monetary value” that were ridden by Peter Sagan, Mathieu van der Poel, Julian Alaphilippe and Egan Bernal were stolen from the Netherland’s Shimano Experience Center last week.

 

Finally…

We may have to dodge LA’s flighty drivers, but at least we don’t have to duck dive-bombing magpies — then again, we don’t have to worry about herds of leaping deer, either. Now they’re out to get us on beachfront bike paths, too.

And that feeling when wild horses couldn’t stop your ride. Thanks to Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette for that one. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bicyclists framed for bear’s murder in Central Park, and El Segundo bike rider critically injured by driver fleeing cops

August 6, 2024 / / Comments Off on Bicyclists framed for bear’s murder in Central Park, and El Segundo bike rider critically injured by driver fleeing cops

Clearly, I’m still having trouble keeping this site online.

I’m told the problem is outdated and incompatible apps bringing it down, so maybe that’s something I can work on one-handed when I’m out following my surgery. Keep your fingers crossed that I get this post up and you get to read it before it goes down again.

Because that seems to be a thing right now. 

I hope to be back again tomorrow before I go under the knife.

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Just 147 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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We was framed.

Presidential candidate, vaccine denier and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy admitted on Monday that he was the perpetrator of a prank that helped fan the flames of anti-bike hysteria a decade ago.

Apparently an aficionado of road kill, Kennedy claimed he in a video with Roseanne Barr that he had found a small bear after it had been struck by a driver, and scooped it up planning to butcher it later and eat it.

But he ran out of time before he had to catch a flight. So rather than let a good dead bear go to waste, he took it to New York’s Central Park and dumped it next to a bicycle, staging the scene to make it look like a bike rider had killed the bear and run away afterwards.

Never mind that a crash with a bicycle is highly unlikely to kill even the barest of a bear. Which, as I recall, was what I wrote at the time, as the media ran wild with the story of the heartless killer bike rider who ran away rather than face the consequences for killing a cute, cuddly walking teddy bear.

This at a time when the media was whipping up a frenzy over New York’s expanding bicycle network, which eventually proved to be a boon to businesses and property values.

As well as reports of reckless, scofflaw bike riders crashing into joggers in Central Park and pedestrians everywhere, in which the person on two wheels inevitably received the full blame for the actions of both parties.

That was the environment in which Kennedy the Younger played his joke, leading to a police investigation that went nowhere.

Evidently, forensics don’t work on bear carcasses, since the cops couldn’t seem to figure out that the fatal injuries caused by a motor vehicle couldn’t have been caused by a lightweight bicycle.

However, it’s likely that Kennedy’s belated confession wasn’t just an effort to cleanse his soul and lighten the bear burden on his conscience.

Rather, he was apparently trying to get ahead of a rumored unflattering story in the New Yorker that would have pointed the finger at the formerly feckless scion of the Kennedy clan for the bear’s demise.

Or at least why its final resting place was next to a Central Park roadway rather than out in the woods.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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It’s happened again.

Just weeks after Raul Castañeda was killed by a driver fleeing police in Irwindale, another man was critically injured when he was struck by a driver fleeing from cops in El Segundo on Sunday.

The driver was fleeing from a traffic stop by members of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s gang and narcotics team when he slammed into the man riding a bicycle at Center Street and Mariposa Ave around 3 pm.

As usual, there’s no word on the victim’s current condition.

Police found the driver’s car nearby after he escaped on foot.

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A 71-year old man was hospitalized with major injuries after he was struck by a driver in Chula Vista, California.

Border Patrol agents attempted to revive the victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified.

The driver, a woman in her 30s from Vista, was arrested by the Border Patrol agents for charges “unrelated to the collision.”

Local police said alcohol played a role in the crash, but didn’t clarify whether the driver or the victim appeared to be under the influence.

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Streets For All is hosting a virtual mobility debate between the candidates for the WeHo city council on August 15th.

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It’s now 229 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 38 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

Once again, a driver intentionally ran down someone on a bicycle and posted the video to Instagram, this time leaving a Detroit bike rider with two broken legs.

No bias here. A columnist for the Boston Globe swears he’s not against bike lanes, let alone bicycles, but thinks someone was just trying to prove a point by “shoehorning” a bike lane onto his favorite boulevard, which was apparently much better when it was just crammed with cars.

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Local 

Cronkite News says Los Angeles should prepare for the 2028 Olympics by copying the bike lanes of Paris.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s adopted son Pax was released from the hospital after nearly three weeks in the ICU with serious head injury suffered in a helmet-less ebike crash.

 

State

How do you say “bikelash” in Mandarin? San Francisco backed down on plans to install a bike lane in Chinatown after business owners got out the torches and pitchforks, arguing that the area is just too crowded.

 

National

A group of New Yorkers took the “worst bike ride ever” over the weekend — a 130-mile ride from New York City to the Montauk Point Lighthouse riding the worst bike they could get their hands on, including a heavy bikeshare bike.

A Queens, New York bike rider was killed, despite riding in a protected bike lane, when the driver of a box truck drove over the armadillos meant to force a wide turn.

 

International

A new re-wilding project in Wales is being funded by the same mountain bikers usually accused of destroying nature, not restoring it. Thanks again to Megan Lynch. 

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list. National Geographic suggests taking a multi-day bike tour of the ancient ruins, nature reserves and seaside villages along Turkey’s Aegean coast.

Hong Kong bicycling deaths tripled over the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year — and already top the six riders killed in all of 2023. Although that’s just a quarter of the 24 bike riders killed in Los Angeles last year, even though Hong Kong has twice the population.

Aussie cyclist Rohan Dennis will face trial on charges of causing death by dangerous driving and driving without due care in the death of his his wife and fellow Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins.

 

Competitive Cycling

American Kristen Faulkner won the Olympic road cycling race on Sunday in a surprise victory over the legendary Marianne Vos, just seven years after taking up cycling through Central Park; she was selected as an alternate when another rider dropped out.

Road.cc wants to know if the Paris Olympic road course was the most photogenic ever. And yes, even potty breaks are harder at the Games.

Cyclist offers a preview of next week’s week-long Tour de France Femmes.

Legendary five-time Tour de France champ Eddy Merckx touts Olympic road cycling champ Remco Evenepoel over Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar at the upcoming world championship.

Sad news from North Carolina, where expert class rider Scott Huntley died Sunday after a major crash at the 2024 Gravity Mountain Bike National Championships, a tragic reminder about the risks pro mountain bikers take on a daily basis.

 

Finally…

Throwing your bike at passing cars is not among the recommended uses.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Breaking news: Man riding bicycle killed in Hyde Park hit-and-run; 12th SoCal bike rider killed by hit-and-run drivers this year

August 3, 2024 / / Comments Off on Breaking news: Man riding bicycle killed in Hyde Park hit-and-run; 12th SoCal bike rider killed by hit-and-run drivers this year

Yet another Southern California bike rider has been killed by a heartless hit-and-run driver.

KABC-7 is reporting that the victim was already dead by the time police arrived following the crash at W. 63rd Street near Overhill Drive in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles, just before noon Saturday.

He was identified only as a man in his 40s. His killer was apparently nowhere to be found.

Unfortunately, there’s no word at this time just how the crash happened, or any description of the driver or suspect vehicle. Hopefully we’ll learn more soon.

This is at least the 32nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth that I’m aware this year in Los Angeles County; it’s also just the fifth in the City of Los Angeles — at least that we know about.

Twelve of those SoCal deaths have been the victims of heartless cowards who didn’t have the basic human decency to stick around afterward.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

LA on track for massive Vision Zero fail, Glendale bike haters go berserk, and CA ebike incentive plan “screws the pooch”

August 2, 2024 / / One comment

This week certainly didn’t go as planned.

First this site went down for two full days, then I spent too much time researching and writing about the tragedy in Camarillo Wednesday night to write anything else — only to get a complaint from a member of the victim’s family that was probably better directed somewhere else.

On the other hand, I can understand the need to lash out at someone, after something like that. 

Which leaves us with a lot to catch up on. So let’s see how much we can get to before I have to pack it in for the night.

And it’s a sad commentary that I’m looking forward to shoulder surgery next week just so I can get a couple good hours of sleep.  

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Photo shows former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti signing the city’s soon-forgotten Vision Zero plan behind his massive outdoor desk, courtesy of Streetsblog.

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Just 151 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Crosstown LA reports the city is on track to once again record more than 300 deaths from traffic violence — a truly obscene total that should shame every city official into taking immediate and far-reaching action to halt it.

But if past is prologue, it probably won’t.

In fact, it’s most likely to be noticed as nothing more than just a blip in their busy schedules, if they notice at all.

Move along, nothing to see here.

Maybe we should replace the current city seal with one bearing the “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” monkeys. Although, now that I think about it, trained monkeys could probably do a better job building a safer city.

The site also reports that drivers in Los Angeles continue to flee from fatal crashes in ever-rising numbers, with 62 hit-and-run deaths in the the just first six months of this year alone — more than double the total of two last pre-pandemic years, with 28 in 2018, and 29 in 2019.

Meanwhile, Helsinki, Finland, with a population of 675,000, has managed to reduce traffic deaths to a number that can usually be counted on one hand (scroll down), with fingers left over.

Which would equate to roughly 10 to 12 deaths from traffic violence in a city of LA’s size, with nearly four million people.

And that’s a hell of a lot fewer than we’re likely to endure this year.

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This is who we share the road with.

A commenter at a Glendale City Council meeting freely admits that he thinks his time is more important than the life of someone riding a bicycle, and will gladly speed to cut you off.

Maybe someone should have cut him off.

Then again, they would have had to do a lot of cutting, because an Instagram page compiled the comments in opposition to Glendale’s proposed bike plan, showing the sheer numbers and ugliness of it.

You can see the full city council discussion below, beginning at item B. You know, in case you want to fast-forward through the other stuff.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the links.

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This is who we share the road with, part two.

Family members are demanding justice, two months after a road-raging off-duty LAPD cop shot Hugo Cachua to death in a dispute that started with a fender bender.

Forty-five-year old Rigoberto R. Reyes was sentenced to 14 years and four months behind bars for the Temecula, California road rage stabbing that killed another man.

And topping this week’s Tour de Road Rage, two men in Highland, California pulled out guns and shot each other to death — in front of one victim’s kids, no less — after one man clipped the other driver’s car mirror while lane splitting on his motorcycle.

Which is all probably fair warning before you lose your top the next time a driver cuts you off or passes too close, because they may be armed and dangerous.

Then again, they’re already driving a multi-ton lethal weapon, anyway.

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People for Mobility Justice will host a “scenic bike ride highlighting local landmarks and celebrating the new bike/ped path on Slauson” from 6 to 8 pm this evening.

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Gravel Bike California marks this weekend’s Tour de Big Bear with a series of single-track jewels guided by local host and Dirty Bear organizer Robin Brown.

 

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It’s now 225 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 38 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, Electrek examines how California “screwed the pooch so badly” in developing its own $30 million ebike incentive program.

A large part of the problem seems to come from issues with the program’s administrator, a program known as Pedal Ahead. It was selected under raised eyebrows by CARB back in 2022 and tasked with managing the program. However, (Streetsblog’s Melanie) Curr) insinuates that personal connections between a former CARB board member and the founder of Pedal Ahead may have led to its application being granted extra weight despite proposing a significantly different incentive program than that envisioned by the state…

But a slew of complicated issues still needed to be solved, ranging from how the vouchers would be distributed to what types of e-bikes would be eligible and whether online retailers would be allowed to participate, just to name a few.

Over a year was spent trying to work out answers to these questions and many more, often complicated by rethinking earlier decisions and creating new project proposals.

All in favor of just scrapping the damn thing and starting over say “aye!”

After a good criminal investigation or two, that is.

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

A Phoenix, Arizona man faces a second-degree murder charge after he was allegedly caught on video beating a homeless man to death and stealing his bicycle.

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

A Bend, Oregon family discovered the hard way that the law isn’t always clear-cut when it comes to ebikes, after a middle school student suffered a fractured collarbone and elbow when she was struck by a 17-year old boy riding one — and the cops said there’s nothing they could do.

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Local 

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, asks if the new bike lanes mean formerly unsafe Hollywood Blvd is finally ready for its closeup. Which depends a lot on how well LA maintains it going forward. 

Ouch. Jalopnik says LA’s plan for a carfree ’28 Olympics was laughable when it was announced, and sounds even more laughable now after the city’s miserable failure to invest in bike lanes and other clean infrastructure.

KCBS-2 looks forward to the Meet the Hollywoods CicLAvia when it returns to Hollywood and West Hollywood on August 17th

 

State

Good news from behind the Orange Curtain, as the Irvine city council voted to make this year’s inaugural CicloIrvine open streets fest an annual affair.

Researchers from UC Santa Barbara will use a $480,000 Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant to train AI to design a bicycle and wayfinding network for Santa Barbara County, while San Jose will get a similar, if considerably smaller,  grant from Toyota to use AI to improve traffic safety. Never mind that we’re talking about the same advanced tech that draws people with three legs, thinks some Nazi soldiers were Black, and suggests shows Netflix couldn’t pay you to watch. Or maybe that’s just me. 

 

National

Speaking of SAFE, as we did above, the LA-based traffic safety organization offers a recap of how the auto industry killed speed governors 101 years ago, as part of their series on Why the Auto Industry Opposes Safety Improvements.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. Chicago has now installed a spacious curb-protected bike lane on a deadly street where drivers killed two teenagers riding bikes in separate crashes recently, and is in the process of building a nearby neighborhood greenway.

Boston’s new CargoB bikeshare represents what is probably the nation’s first on-demand cargo bike system.

Join the nearly 2,000 people who ride their bikes to the iconic Newport Jazz Fest each day.

 

International

A new survey shows that while a third of UK residents now bike to work, up from just 19% last year, nearly half say they can’t afford a bike, and a quarter would have to save up for six months to buy one.

Copenhagen’s new ‘CopenPay’ plan rewards tourists for choosing green activities and transportation options, like bicycling. But the BBC questions whether it actually works.

Makes sense to me. Service workers at the international airport in Frankfurt, Germany get around the massive structure on bicycles. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

Amazon is expanding it’s e-cargo bike delivery program Berlin, which look like cute-little pedal-powered cargo vans.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 81-year old man from Goa, India could be one of the country’s oldest people to bike 100 kilometers — about 62 miles.

The widow of a fallen Aussie bicyclist has filed suit against the local government, claiming that a bare metal rail blocking access to a parking lot from a shared-use path was virtually invisible and camouflaged; it’s now been covered in yellow safety stickers.

 

Competitive Cycling

A writer for Cycling Weekly rode the cobbled Paris road cycling course on a 44-pound, three-speed bikeshare bike.

 

Finally…

When you’re carrying heroin and meth on your bike, and riding with an outstanding warrant, just put a damn light on it. Inflate your bike tires electronically, without deflating your wallet.

And when you’re a wanted fugitive riding your bike despite being on the lam for the last 30 years after escaping a Wisconsin rape conviction, put a rear reflector on it, already.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Road diet for Griffith Park’s Crystal Springs Drive, and San Diego opens separated bikeway on deadly Pershing Drive

July 29, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 155 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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I’m still looking for more volunteers to write guest posts or fill in for me for a few days while I’m out next month following shoulder surgery. We’ve already had a few people volunteer, but we could use more; just email me at the address on the About BikinginLA page, which I really need to update. 

And if I haven’t gotten back to you yet, don’t worry, I will.

………

About damn time.

A 1.5-mile section of Crystal Springs Drive through LA’s Griffith Park is getting a lane reduction, from two in each direction to just one each way, along with buffered bike and pedestrian paths.

The road will also get speed bumps and new traffic signs to slow endemic speeding. Although key to the success of the $1.4 million project is whether there will be anything to prevent drivers from using the buffer — or worse, the bike path — to simply go around them.

This is the same section of road where Andrew Jelmert was killed while the beloved 77-year old was participating in a training ride for the annual AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.

Thirty-seven-year old Jairo Martinez was allegedly speeding and under the influence when he slammed into Jelmert while passing another car, with enough force to scatter bits of his shattered bicycle across the nearby hillside.

Martinez was arrested by sheriff’s deputies who scoured the scrub along the roadway after he fled the crash on foot.

There’s no word on the outcome of his case; the last news was when Martinez pled not guilty to the charges against him a little more than two years ago.

………

San Diego celebrated the official opening of the long-awaited 2.3-mile Pershing Bikeway through Balboa Park on Saturday, which includes a fully separated two-way bike lane and pedestrian path, along with a new 75-foot bridge over Florida Canyon creek

Noted San Diego architect Laura Shinn was killed by a meth-addled driver while riding her bike to work there three years ago, while 34-year-old Johnathan Sepulveda was killed by a teenaged driver while riding a scooter a few months later.

Both died while waiting for the long-delayed bikeway that might have saved them.

………

A new GCN video says we’ve all be brainwashed by a 100-year old “carspiracy,” suggesting we’ll never see the world the same way again after watching it.

………

It’s now 221 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. An op-ed in the often anti-bike New York Post calls a citywide trade-in program to ensure delivery riders are on safer bikes with non-flammable batteries the mayor’s ebike boondoggle. Although she does have a point that the companies they work for should be on the hook for paying for it.

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

No surprise here, as a new French study shows that men, younger riders and bikeshare users were more likely to engage in risky bike behavior — which was defined as not wearing a helmet, running red lights, and crossing an intersection in front of oncoming traffic — than older riders, women and people riding their own bikes.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Sad news from Merced, where a 15-year old boy was killed in a collision with a “vehicle” while riding his bicycle, in a story that doesn’t even bother to mention if there was a driver involved.

More sad news from San Jose, where a woman was killed while riding her bike in a crosswalk Thursday evening, when a van driver swerved to avoid the man she was riding with, and slammed into her.

Still more sad news, this time from Antioch, where a woman was killed by a suspected drunk driver while riding her bike early Saturday morning; the 38-year old driver was arrested on a charge of DUI causing serious bodily injury or death.

 

National

He gets it. A writer for Utah’s Cycling West calls cars America’s biggest death cult. Which is hard to argue with when drivers kill around 40,000 Americans every year.

The battle over curbside parking is once again rearing its ugly head in Denver, as business owners fret over the loss of 200 parking spaces to install a protected bike lane in the Sloane’s Lake neighborhood. Even though studies have repeatedly shown similar projects have often resulted in increase in business activity, or at least no net loss. 

Nice gesture from a group of kindhearted Michigan State Police officers, who replaced a young boy’s bicycle that was stolen by a man who went on to kill a cop a few blocks away — and also brought three more bikes for the boy’s younger brothers.

Hundreds of people rode their bikes through the streets of Philadelphia to the steps of City Hall to demand safer streets, following the recent deaths of a bike rider and a pedestrian.

Heartbreaking news from Florida, where a three-year old boy was killed while riding a bike with his mother and siblings in a condo complex parking lot, when the SUV driver hit the boy after turning a corner.

 

International

Momentum recommends ten must-try summer North American bicycling routes, ranging from Canada’s Icefield’s Parkway to the Great Divide Trail.

They get it. The Toronto Star calls for improving safety in the ostensibly bike-friendly Canadian city, where five bike riders have died already this year, with another ten seriously injured.

London could soon ban “free-floating” bikeshare and e-scooter parking on sidewalks, requiring that they be left in designated bays, which providers say could kill micromobility in the city. Although it hasn’t seemed to hurt it anywhere else. 

The Bamboo Society of India is promoting bicycle frames made with locally grown bamboo as a more ecological solution to the countless bicycles that end up in landfills.

 

Competitive Cycling

French mountain biker Pauline Ferrand-Prevot won gold for her home country in the women’s cross-country race, while American Haley Batten overcame a broken rear wheel to take silver, with Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds capturing bronze.

Batten was fined the equivalent of $565 dollars after the race for “failure to respect the instructions of the race organization or commissaires” when she rode through a lane dedicated for taking on food and drink or stopping for a mechanical; fortunately, the violation was not considered serious enough to merit disqualification from the first Olympic mountain biking gold or silver won by a US cyclist.

France’s Loana Lecompte was lucky to escape without serious injuries when she went over her handlebars and landed headfirst on rocks on the side of the trial during a technical part of the course, briefly losing consciousness as the medics rushed in and cameras cut away.

Australian Grace Brown won the gold medal in the women’s time trial, while British cyclist Anna Henderson won silver, and American Chloe Dygert overcame a fall on the rain-soaked course to capture bronze, after watching the gold medal slip through her hands; US cyclist Taylor Knibb skidded off her bike four times before mercifully finishing.

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel took gold in the men’s Olympic time trial in a pouring rain, finishing just ahead of Italy’s Filippo Ganna, with fellow Belgian Wout van Aert winning the bronze medal.

Australian cyclist Lucas Plapp underwent emergency abdominal surgery after he went under a barrier fence when his bike slid out from under him on the rain-slicked roadway during the time trial.

 

Finally…

Your next bike saddle could cost the equivalent of $1,400.

And bikes come in handy for a lot of things — like whacking an angry mama bear on the snout to make your getaway.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Missing the point on ghost bikes, El Segundo’s new substandard bike lanes, and CA’s failed ebike voucher plan

July 26, 2024 / / One comment
Just 158 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

An Altamont NY writer kinda misses the point about ghost bikes.

He notes that it’s natural to grieve, and we don’t all do it in the same way. But wonders whether it’s healthy to be reminded of these tragedies every time you pass by, and questions who wants to see something like that, anyway?

But that’s the point.

None of us want to see that. But we all need to be reminded what happened there.

Because a ghost bike is more than just a memorial. It’s a reminder to everyone who sees it about the fragility of human life, and the need to drive in a way that respects that.

A ghost bike is a searing reminder to respect the safety of people on bicycles, and to take your damn foot off the gas, for once.

Personally, I hate the damn things. I hope we never have to install another one.

But I will support ghost bikes until they’re not needed any more. And the last person killed riding a bike on our streets really is the last one.

Photo of ghost bike for fallen South LA bicyclist Frederick “Woon” Frazier by Matt Tinoco.

………

Evidently, substandard is the new standard. At least in El Segundo.

………

It’s now 218 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry has taken an in-depth look at the program. Or at least as in-depth as possible, given the closed-door decision making process, obtuse public pronouncements and obvious obfuscation.

Her piece was posted under the headline What the Heck is Going on with the State E-bike Incentive Program? Which is about as politely stated as possible given the subject matter.

I would have used another word starting with H instead of heck. And even that would be an effort to censure my own thoughts on the subject.

Curry writes that the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB, has continually promised that the the program, which is currently funded at $30 million after the state legislature sweetened the pot, will launch “soon.”

Sometimes that’s sometime in the next quarter, or the one after that. But every time, their self-imposed deadline has come and gone, with barely a dime laid out.

The soft launch that we’ve heard virtually nothing about has funded just 77 vouchers, mostly in the San Diego area, according to Curry. But no dollar amounts have been announced.

And if San Diego rings a bell, it’s because that’s where program administrator Pedal Ahead is located. And where Pedal Ahead and its CEO are reportedly being investigated amid accusations of mixing public and private funds.

As Curry explains,

And now, two recent articles in the San Diego Union Tribune say that the program’s administrator is “under investigation” by multiple agencies for various improprieties, and is being sued by one of its employees who says he wasn’t paid for work he did, and that the nonprofit mixed public money and private business.

When CARB announced that they had chosen Pedal Ahead as administrator for the program in 2022, advocates were quietly but frantically worried that a big mistake had been made. Rumors swirled about Pedal Ahead’s founder, Ed Clancy, and questions were raised about his personal connections to former CARB board member Nathan Fletcher, who helped Clancy launch his organization, Rider Safety Visibility (RSV), of which Pedal Ahead is a part.

But no one would go on record with their concerns, and CARB staff insisted that (former CARB board member, California Assembly Member and current San Diego County Supervisor Nathan) Fletcher had zero influence over the decision. They chose Pedal Ahead, they said, because of the organization’s experience with e-bikes.

Nope. Nothing to see there.

Never mind the apparent conflict of interest that led to Pedal Ahead’s selection, despite an application that wasn’t exactly on point, to be kind.

Rider Safety Visibility turned in an application that implied it would recreate the program it was running in San Diego. But that program was not at all like the state’s plan. That is, the Pedal Ahead program run by RSV is a “loan-to-own” program wherein income-qualified people are given e-bikes, which they could keep after a certain period of time as long as they fulfilled certain requirements, like riding at least 35 miles a week and bringing them in regularly to be checked (and to have their mileage checked on Strava units included on the bike).

The statewide plan, in contrast, would give money to people to buy their own e-bikes.

Nothing to see there, either.

So let’s be honest.

At this point, it’s obvious that the California ebike voucher program is just one massive clusterfuck, with no public openness or accountability.

And it’s long past time for the California Attorney General’s office to audit the program, and open a criminal investigation if it’s warranted.

Because I highly suspect it is.

So if anyone wants to pass this on to them, I’m fine with that.

Thanks to Ellectrek for the heads-up. And to Melanie Curry for her reporting. 

………

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

A road raging, hit-and-run driver was arrested in Ventura County after plowing into a bicyclist riding at the back of a group on LA’s Mandeville Canyon Road; he’s then seen honking and yelling at the bike riders filming him as he plows through a gate, before engaging in a brief police chase and crashing once again in Malibu.

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

A Florida man has been busted on hit-and-run charges after crashing his speeding ebike into a man playing soccer on the beach, then fleeing the scene. Yet another reminder that you have as much responsibility to stop after a crash as a driver does. Even though they too often don’t.

………

Local 

Police are looking for a man suspected of stabbing a man in his mid-40s at the the North Hollywood Metro station, before fleeing on a black bicycle.

Once again, a bicyclist is a hero, as a Venice rider rode his pedicab between boardwalk brawlers to break up a fight.

Beverly Hills plans to restripe the existing bike lanes on Burton Drive, after completing the current repaving project.

Claremont approved spending $41,000 to continue funding the GoSGV bikeshare.

Agoura Hills is rolling out a new bike plan, after receiving a $1.6 million federal transportation grant.

 

State

San Diego intends to use eminent domain to seize two pieces of private property in La Jolla considered essential for completing the Coastal Rail Trail bikeway.

The Ventura County coastline is now officially part of US Bike Route 95.

 

National

National Geographic — yes, it’s still around — recommends the best road cycling gear for beginners.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, aka CPSC is warning bike riders to immediately stop using Camzimo bicycle helmets, which may not provide adequate protection in a fall.

Oh, hell no. Bicycling wants to know if you’d buy a $100 water bottle. For a change, read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you. 

For what seems like the first time in recorded history, a cop in North Platte, Nebraska offers safety advice for bicyclists that doesn’t once mention wearing a helmet. Although I’m not sure about the requirement to have a front bike light “that protrudes up to 500 feet,” which seems just a tad excessive. And dangerous.

Bill Belichick is one of us, as the 72-year old former NFL coaching great went for a Nantucket bike ride with his much younger girlfriend, after apparently confusing himself with the star of a Woody Allen film.

The New York Times offers a very belated obituary for 1930’s Belgian trans cyclist Willy de Bruyn, who broke gender barriers by announcing he wanted to live as a man, after winning a number of women’s cycling competitions.

No surprise here. The Philadelphia DA announced that the driver who killed a pediatric oncologist as she was riding her bike in the city last week was traveling at twice the posted 25 mph speed limit, with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit; the 68-year old driver has been charged with vehicular manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, DUI, reckless driving and other assorted offenses.

Kindhearted Brevard County, Florida sheriff’s deputies bought a new bike for a nine-year old girl after hers was stolen.

In the saddest story of the day, a three-year old Florida boy was killed when he was hit-by a driver while he was riding his bike with family members.

 

International

Toronto suffered its fifth bicycling fatality of the year — more than the previous four years combined — when a woman was struck by the driver of a dump truck, who was apparently unable to stop the large truck when parked cars blocking a bike lane forced the woman into the traffic lane.

Forget cycling. British bike hero Chris Boardman, who won the men’s individual pursuit at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, wants to own a Sussex football club. That’s soccer to those of us on this side of the pond.

Rouleur recommend five unique Parisian bicycling spots to visit during the 2024 Olympics, which start today.

Even in the midst of war, Ukrainian bicyclists call for the preservation of Kyiv’s “American Girl” bike park, one of the oldest in the city. And apparently one of the few sites the Russians haven’t managed to bomb. Yet.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your helmet and goggles-clad terrier is a biketouring RAGBRAI ruff rider. Or when you hold a memorial ride for bike-riding fallen feline.

And when a stray pup joins in on an indefinite bike ride around the world.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Study shows road diets don’t affect EMS response times, and LAPD belatedly asks for help solving Lincoln Heights hit-and-run

July 25, 2024 / / Comments Off on Study shows road diets don’t affect EMS response times, and LAPD belatedly asks for help solving Lincoln Heights hit-and-run
Just 159 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

A new study shows exactly what we’ve been saying all along — that road diets don’t affect emergency response times.

The study involved Iowa road diets that converted formerly four lane roadways to two lanes in each direction and a center turn lane. It confirmed there was no difference in emergency response times from before the installation to after they were installed.

And despite what we’re usually told, most EMS responders didn’t think they did, either.

On the other hand, what did affect response times was drivers who didn’t know how the hell to yield to emergency vehicles, especially after a lane had been removed.

And from what we’ve seen here in Los Angeles, that’s most of them.

Photo by F. Muhammad for Artistic Operations from Pixabay.

………

This is who we share the road with.

The LAPD is looking for a hit-and-run pickup driver who caused a fatal crash involving a motorcyclist in Lincoln Heights this past May.

The driver reportedly ran a red light, causing the 49-year old motorcyclist to lay down his bike to avoid a collision. The victim then slid under a box truck and was run over, and died after being taken to a hospital.

The pickup driver continued without stopping.

And yes, it’s considered hit-and-run if you cause a crash, even if you don’t come into actual contact with the victim or their vehicle.

Never mind that, as usual, the LA cops waited until the trail got cold and people’s memory of the event faded before bothering to ask for the public’s help.

Even though both the city and state have passed hit-and-run alert programs intended to notify the public immediately after a crash, when people are most likely to recall key details that could lead to an arrest.

As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of this driver, or any other driver involved in a fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.

………

It’s now 217 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, Baltimore becomes just the latest city to launch an ebike voucher program before California’s moribund incentive plan gets off the ground, offering up to $2,000 off an electric bicycle.

Even though California’s program would have been the first in the nation if it had actually launched when it was originally approved by the legislature.

………

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

Four people have been arrested on murder and conspiracy charges following a West London collision that killed two men in their 20s riding bicycles. Unfortunately, given British press restrictions, there’s no information on how the crash occurred, why so many people were arrested or why police consider it a double murder.

No bias here. After yet another mass casualty crash, the BBC employs it’s most passive voice to say a “car and seven cyclists collided,” resulting in at least four serious injuries, and doesn’t even mention that the car had a driver until the next-to-last paragraph. Never mind that it’s highly unlikely the bicyclist collided with the car, rather than the driver plowing them down. 

………

Local 

Bicycle owners were told to claim their bikes after a popular Marina del Rey bike locker program operated by LA County Beaches and Harbors was shut down following the theft of a dozen bicycles; the county promises to reopen it if and when they figure out how to make it theft proof.

 

State

Police in San Diego are asking for the public’s help in finding the hit-and-run driver who left a 60-year old bike rider in grave condition. The victim suffered numerous injuries, including a fractured neck and bleeding in the brain; unfortunately, there’s no description of the driver or suspect vehicle. The cops actually managed to alert the public within days of the crash, rather than waiting weeks or months after a serious hit-and-run, if they even get around to it, like the LAPD. 

A 67-year old man was shot and killed following an altercation on a Simi Valley bike path Tuesday night, although there’s no indication it had anything to do with bicycling.

Oakland bike advocates rightfully object to a call from port officials for the city to move planned bike lanes just “a few blocks over.” So the bike lanes don’t, you know, interfere with their plans, bike riders be damned.

 

National

The tiny little two-seat ELF ebike car rises zombie-like from the dead.

NACTO reports micromobility use — including standard bicycles, ebikes and scooters — climbed 16% in the US last year.

An Alaska news site questions whether anyone is actually using a new Anchorage bike path as it nears the halfway point of the pilot project — even though it’s used by up to 150 bike riders a day, and the downtown bike corral it connects to is often full, with as many as 100 bicycles.

A Minnesota writer says St. Paul needs to connect its breweries to its bike trails. I second that. And vote that we do that here, too. 

The post-pandemic bike bust claims another victim, as a 141-year old Cleveland bike shop that’s been run by the same family for three generations prepares to shutter its doors at the end of next month, a victim of supply chain problems and the difficulty finding trained workers.

New York Uber drivers complain about the city’s ever-worsening traffic congestion, while failing to recognize they’re  big part of athe problem.

A writer for an art website takes an educational 60-mile ride to Edward Hopper’s home in Nyack, New York for his 142nd birthday. And yes, Hopper was one of us.

 

International

The sister of assassinated British Member of Parliament Jo Cox celebrated the “inspirational” bike ride in her honor, with 83 people ranging from 16 to 78 completing the 288-mile ride from her hometown to London, where Cox was killed by a terrorist eight years ago.

Officials promise to “review” the narrow gate gap on a new Irish bicycle and pedestrian path  that only allows standard bicycles to pass, while blocking cargo bikes, adult tricycles and other large bikes. And the “cyclists dismount” sign doesn’t exactly help.

An Irish man credits his bike helmet with saving his life when he was struck by a driver this past weekend, and thinks because they helped him, they should be required for everyone. Even though bike helmets are designed for relatively low speed falls, not violent collisions with bigass motor vehicles.

Slovenia invites you to explore the country for your next bicycling vacation, which is home to some of the world’s best bicyclists — like the newly crowned three-time Tour de France champ, for instance.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo examines who did and didn’t rake in the big bucks for the recently completed Tour de France, with three-time champ Tadej Pogačar hauling in nearly $875,000, while Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay brought a relatively paltry $58,000, despite winning three stages and the green jersey.

The Cofidis cycling team was forced to defend their Look racing bikes and Corima wheels used in the Tour de France, after team member Guillaume Martin blamed heavy bikes for their poor showing. Or, it could just be the team sucked they got beat by better teams. 

Bloomberg says Paris could be the bicycle Olympics, with virtually every venue reachable by bike.

Cyclist remembers the best cycling moments from the 2021 pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics.

Outside profiles Olympic mountain biker Riley Amos, and the small southwest Colorado mountain town I can’t talk my wife into moving to that’s produced more top cyclists than almost any other American city.

The Daily Pilot looks at the semiannual Costa Mesa Grand Prix, saying the race has found a home in the bike-friendly city.

 

Finally…

Nothing like NFL team security blocking your son from riding his bike to training camp — even though you’re the head coach. Why let a little thing like no front wheel stop you from riding?

And that feeling when you have to backtrack 170 miles in a transcontinental race to retrieve the passport and wallet you left at a gas station.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

15-year old Monterey Park girl found safe, context-free rise in ebike injuries, and elderly man gravely injured in Mira Mesa

July 24, 2024 / / One comment
Just 160 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Photo from Monterey Park Police Dept. 

………

She’s safe.

KABC-7 reports that Alison Jillian Chao, the 15-year old Monterey Park girl who disappeared on a bike ride last week, was found safe outside their studio in Glendale yesterday morning.

Chao was reportedly recognized by someone who followed her in their car and notified police.

Her aunt says she believes the girl ran away because she didn’t want to live with her mother, who was granted full custody of her on a temporary basis.

One more example of why the courts need to give more consideration to the desires of kids in custody cases.

But the important thing is she’s safe. The rest is details.

………

Researchers are reporting a “remarkable” rise in ebike and e-scooter injuries.

A new study from UC San Francisco shows ebike injuries in the US have doubled each year for the last six years, rising from 750 in 2017 to 23,500 in 2022, while e-scooter owies have climbed an average of 45%, from 8,500 to 56,800 over the same period.

Although ebike injuries still represent less than 2% of the roughly 2.5 million injuries suffered by riders of more traditional bicycles.

And we have to look at that nine-fold rise in electric micromobility injuries in the context of the 50-fold jump in micromobility usage over the past ten years.

It’s also worth noting that the risk of death in comparison to injuries is just one-fifth of one per cent or less for any form of micromobility, ranging from <0.1% for ebikes and traditional scooters to 0.1% for regular bicycles and 0.2% for e-scooters.

Which appears to be a hell of a lot less than we’re usually led to believe.

The researchers also note a lack of helmets among injured riders, as well as drinking and drug use.

“Our findings stress a concerning trend: helmet usage is noticeably lower among electric vehicle users, and risky behaviors, such as riding under the influence, are more prevalent,” said study co-first author Kevin Li.

Never mind that they conflate rental ebikes and e-scooters with devices that are owned by their riders.

Which matters because renting a bicycle or scooter is often a spur of the moment decision. People who have been drinking or using drugs may choose to ride one instead of risking a DUI, and someone with lowered inhibitions may be more likely to ride one on impulse.

It’s also worth noting that less than 10% of e-scooter users were under the influence, dropping to 7% for ebike riders, and just 4% for riders of more traditional bicycles.

Which means that well over 90% of all users were sober a judge. Depending on the judge, of course.

And few people are likely to carry a helmet with them wherever they go, especially if they aren’t planning in advance to ride a bike or scooter, electric or otherwise.

It also appear the researchers conflated relatively low-speed ped-assist bikes with higher-speed throttle-controlled bicycles, which are better classified as lower-powered electric motorcycles.

As for the rapid jump in electric bike and scooter injuries, such stats are absolutely meaningless when not considered in context with the rapid rise in ebike and e-scooter usage.

Without that comparison, we have no way of knowing if the rate and severity of injuries are climbing relative to electric bike and scooter use, or if one is increasing faster than the other.

What’s needed is a side-by-side comparison of annual bicycle, ebike and e-scooter injuries relative to usage for each. Unless and until we have that, studies like this are interesting, but relatively meaningless.

Meanwhile, if you want to read a really badly reported synopsis of a synopsis of the study, you could do a lot worse than this story in the New York Post.

Like maybe this story in The Hill, which somehow blames the increase in ebike injuries on risky behavior and urban design — which may have been inferred, but neither of which were directly implicated in the study.

………

More bad news from San Diego, where a 74-year old man was gravely injured in a solo bike crash.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, lost control of his bike and hit a curb while riding in the 10700 block of Camino Santa Fe in Mira Mesa, suffering life-threatening injuries including a brain bleed, broken collarbone and several fractured ribs.

Let’s all hope and pray he pulls through.

………

It’s now 216 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

A Florida jogger faces a battery charge for hitting a woman in the face with a bottle and knocking her off her bicycle, yelling that she had to share the road, even though she was on a bike path where pedestrians aren’t allowed. Or joggers.

No bias here. Writing for the London Telegraph, the TV editor for the Independent newspaper says she’s a regular bike commuter, but she’s “sick of reckless cyclists ruining it for everyone,” while somehow assuming all those Lycra-clad louts are blowing through red lights at a remarkable 40 mph — double the speed limit, and far beyond the capacity of just about everyone without a motor. But still lower than the 52 mph cited in the headline.

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

Police dashcam and bodycam images captures video of a man on a bicycle evading cops on a chase through the city back in May, after attacking someone with a machete.

………

Local 

To paraphrase Sunset Boulevard, the new Hollywood Blvd bike lanes are ready for their closeup, Mr. DeMille. And from what I’ve seen going by on the bus, they look marvelous.

https://twitter.com/LADOTofficial/status/1815507535148781864

 

State

Calbike accuses Caltrans of contributing to incomplete streets for bicyclists and pedestrians in Orange County by ignoring their own rules on Beach Blvd.

Yes, please. Dozens of Orange County drivers were ticketed for various offenses in a traffic crackdown over the weekend, including having overly loud exhaust systems. Now do Hollywood, where illegal decibel-shattering cars and motorcycles roar through the streets all day and night.

San Diego’s sparkling new fully separated Pershing Bikeway will have a partial opening this weekend, with connecting bike lanes coming online in the next few weeks.

San Diego bicyclists can use the Bike Lane Uprising app to document drivers parking in them.

SFGate says a quiet movement is growing in San Francisco, as more people trade the family car for e-cargo bikes, although residents are divided over the city’s Slow Streets program.

 

National

Americans set a new record for bikeshare and e-scooter rentals last year, topping the previous high of 147 million trips set in 2019 by a full ten million.

Bicycling may cause genital numbness, but doesn’t result in a statistically significant rate of erectile dysfunction in men, while women bicyclists are no more likely to report urinary or sexual dysfunction symptoms than swimmers or runners.

The parents of fallen Boulder, Colorado junior cycling champ Magnus White hope a memorial ride marking his death next month will be the largest advocacy ride in history.

There’s a special place in hell for the 41-year old Pueblo, Colorado man who shot a child in the back over an allegedly stolen bicycle; he faces three counts of attempted 2nd degree murder, despite causing the kid only minor injuries.

Thousands of riders participating in the annual RAGBRAI ride across Iowa visited tiny Greenfield, Iowa — population 2057 — just two months after a devastating tornado killed four people and injured dozens more.

The Boston Globe says bikes are booming in Beantown as new separated and protected bikeways roll out, but barriers to biking remain. Kinda like just about everywhere else, but without the spiffy new infrastructure in a lot of places.

J-Lo continues to impress fashionistas with her casual bike chic, going for a casual ride in the Hamptons in a floral skirt and matching bandeau top.

 

International

British Columbia bike riders complain that bicycles are just an afterthought on the local ferries.

More proof bikes mean business. Hotels and bicycle touring companies in a pair of Scottish cities have seen an increase in business since a new coast-to-coast bike route opened a year ago.

A writer for Cycling Weekly considers whether getting on your bike is really the best medicine, as more and more physicians in the UK prescribe bicycling to cure what ails you.

A British bike shop owner says “it’s a bit of a Wild West out there” when it comes to the safety of ebike batteries, as King Charles calls for better regulation of high risk products such as the lithium-ion batteries found in many ebikes.

You won’t find any “cyclists” in The Hague in the Netherlands, which PeopleForBikes calls the world’s best bicycling city. Although the country does use “the” a lot, and has some weird rules on its capitalization.

Michelin offers a handy guide to biking to newly bike-friendly Barcelona’s hotels and restaurants. Bearing in mind that tourists aren’t exactly welcomed by everyone in the Catalan city.

Good on them. Japan decided to cut the speed limit on narrow roadways from 60 kph to just 30 kph — aka 36 mph to 18 mph — which will affect roughly 70% of the nation’s streets, while improving safety for everyone.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bike World News introduces the US Olympic Cycling Team.

Newly re-crowned Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar pulled out of the Paris Games after winning the race on Sunday, aiming for a triple crown by winning the world championship, after taking the Giro title earlier this year.

British time trialist George Fox set an unofficial new road bike record over a 10 mile course, knocking two seconds off the current mark, while using a controversial triathlon bike.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you interrupt your ride across Iowa for a cold beer in The Middle of Nowhere. Or when your favorite bike path is closed for a boat race, even though boats hardly ever ride bikes.

And how to catch Olympic motor doping.

Let’s just hope they do a better job with that than they do with regular doping.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Monterey Park teen missing after riding bike, and attempted assassin’s “suspicious” bicycle ride to Trump rally

July 22, 2024 / / One comment
Just 162 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A 15-year old girl from Monterey Park is missing, nearly a week after she disappeared while riding her bike to visit family members.

Alison Chao left her father’s home a little after 5:30 pm this past Tuesday, but never made it to her an aunt’s home in San Gabriel.

She is described as Asian, 5 feet, two inches and weighs 96 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Chao was last seen wearing a purple t-shirt, a pair of black shorts and a pair of dark shoes, while riding a blue mountain bike and carrying a black backpack.

Anyone with information on Chao is urged to call the Monterey Park Police Department at 626/573-1311.

Photo from Monterey Park Police Dept. 

………

Apparently, riding a bicycle to a political rally and leaving it propped up under a tree, is just the kind of strange behavior that should alert the cops to a potential assassin.

At least the seems to be the take at Fox News, which breathlessly reports that would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was seen riding his bicycle through the recent Pennsylvania political rally where he later took a shot at the former president.

Someone spotted Crooks’ bike parked under a tree, propped up with his backpack, a full 42 minutes before the shooting — where it still stood hours later.

And that, as much as the range finder he carried, should have tipped off the police and/or Secret Service that something was amiss, according to Fox, and triggered an emergency response team.

But evidently, driving a car to the rally would have been perfectly normal.

Which is not to say that there weren’t other warning signs they should have picked up on. But simply riding a bicycle to the rally isn’t one of them.

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It’s now 214 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

No bias here. An Ottawa, Canada letter writer somehow feels qualified to distinguish between good bicyclists and “Bozos,” as if bad drivers don’t exist, while another blames the people on bicycles for all their near misses while driving. Because it couldn’t possibly be their fault.

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

A 25-year old British man has been convicted of murder for fatally stabbing the 29-year old driver who crashed into his mountain bike and dragged it along the roadway; he claimed the driver and his passenger were both armed and he only killed the man in self defense, but the jury didn’t buy it.

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Local 

Federal officials approved a nearly $10 million grant to help build a pedestrian and bicycle crossing over the 710 Freeway, aka Long Beach Freeway.

 

State

Sad news from Maricopa, where a 53-year old man was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle — even if the story doesn’t mention that the car even had one. A driver, that is.

The rich get richer, as San Francisco gets another protected bike lane as part of the city’s Vision Zero program, this one a quick-build project on 17th Street. Which is what happens when a city actually give a damn about living up to its commitments to people on two wheels. Unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name. 

The online San Francisco Standard says “disrespect” to drivers is fueling an angry political movement aimed at reclaiming space for motor vehicles, including reversing the potential permanent closure of the city’s Great Highway.

This is who we share the road with. A 23-year old Folsom driver has been charged with attempted murder for — allegedly — intentionally ramming his SUV into a motorcyclist and running over the victim, who was lucky to escape with a broken ankle and minor injuries.

 

National

Kawai, Hawaii became the latest jurisdiction to institute a Vision Zero program, promising to end traffic fatalities by 2040. Which is probably still years before Los Angeles will manage it, if it ever does. 

A new University of Washington study shows that Seattle’s Vision Zero projects have not had a negative impact on local businesses.

In a gut-wrenching story, three people have been arrested for the crash that killed a 67-year old Texas bike rider, including the driver — just 14 years old — as well as a 40-year old man charged with child endangerment and criminally negligent homicide, and a 22-year old woman charged with giving alcohol to a minor; a ten-year old child was also a passenger in the car.

A Tennessee man with a long record of DUI and driver’s license violations faces charges for the hit-and-run that killed a 41-year old man riding a bicycle, after a pair of women initially returned to the crash scene and falsely claimed one was the driver; no decision yet on whether they will be charged for the deception.

Skip the traffic and ride a bike to Rhode Island’s famed Newport Folk Festival.

Someone is putting up fake filming notices on New York lamp poles claiming that fictional Carrie Bradshaw of And Just Like That and Sex And The City fame gets hit with a Citi Bike bikeshare; then again, they also claim she accidentally sends the equally fictional Mr. Bean a nude selfie — and confesses to being Garfield the cat.

 

International

A writer for Forbes talks with ultra-distance “living legend” Lael Wilcox as she reaches the halfway point on her ride around the world, while explaining what goes into an attempt to set a new world record for circumnavigating the globe by bicycle.

A Glasgow, Scotland writer samples the city’s new $8.4 million segregated — aka protected — bike lane, and declares it better for both bicyclists and motorists.

An eight-year old boy from Cheshire, England has been named the UK’s Cyclist of the Year for his 80-mile bike ride to all four north west Premiere League stadiums, while raising the equivalent of nearly ten grand for a new bike shelter at his school.

An estimated 1,200 people took to their bicycles in the UK to call for a Gaza ceasefire and more humanitarian aid.

The Irish Senate takes up the the case of a family’s custom made bike shed, which they threatened to replace with a low-end trailer after the local government ordered them to remove it.

LeMonde examines the boom in French bike tourism, fueled by family-focused agencies, bike-specific accommodations and the explosion in ebike use.

Condé Nast Traveler says Paris is becoming a bicycling city, for better or worse — better being the willingness of the people to take to their bikes, and worse being the city’s still deficient infrastructure.

Even bicyclists in the Netherlands have to obey the law, but face fines if they don’t.

The number of people killed riding bicycles in Germany’s Thuringia state more than doubled last year, despite investments in bike infrastructure — although the victims were “not infrequently” blamed for their own crashes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar put an exclamation point behind his third yellow jersey with his third consecutive Tour de France stage win — and sixth overall in this year’s Tour — after previously winning the race in 2020 and 2021.

London’s Independent explains why Nice — the city, not the personality type — was the perfect stand-in for Paris for the finish of the Tour de France.

A Welsh website celebrates the Manx Missile being caught on camera speaking the local tongue, after Mark Cavendish set the record for Tour stage wins in what was likely his final grand tour.

CNN celebrates Eritrean Tour de France points champ Biniam Girmay, who became the first Black African to win a stage in the Tour de France, then added two more; Girmay says he wants to inspire others as the only Black rider in this year’s peloton.

Not surprisingly, cycling teams competing in the Tour consider broadcasting their team tactics on live TV a big non-non, with two — Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers — pulling out of the broadcast agreement, and others threatening to.

 

Finally..

Your next ebike could come from the Mercedes F1 team. You know traffic sucks when even race car drivers would rather ride a bike.

And when you skate on biking under the influence because the cops can’t prove you were actually riding your bike, maybe don’t let them catch you riding a unicycle right afterwards.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Ramos faces up to 20 years for killing five-year old in drunken hit-and-run, and wannabe Trump assassin was one of us

July 19, 2024 / / Comments Off on Ramos faces up to 20 years for killing five-year old in drunken hit-and-run, and wannabe Trump assassin was one of us
Just 165 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A few people have volunteered to write guest posts to help keep this site from going dark when I’m out next month for surgery on my torn rotator cuff. 

So if you’re interested in filling in here for a few days, or joining them in submitting a guest post or two, just email me at the address on the About page above.

………

Twenty years.

Charges have been refiled against Ceferino Ascencion Ramos for the alleged drunken hit-and-run that killed five-year old Jacob Ramirez, and injured his entire family, as they were enjoying an evening bike ride in Garden Grove nearly two weeks ago.

Ramos, who had a blood alcohol content of .22% at the time of his arrest, now faces a charge of vehicular manslaughter, as well as felony counts of driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, driving with blood alcohol of .08% or more causing bodily injury, and hit and run with injury, with sentencing enhancements for leaving a victim comatose or paralyzed and inflicting great bodily injury.

If he is convicted on all counts, Ramos could spend the next two decades behind bars. But the most likely result is that the DA will allow him to plead to a reduced sentence in order to guarantee a conviction.

The lack of a murder charge indicates this is probably Ramos’ first DUI arrest, or he at least hasn’t been convicted before.

The good news, if there is any in this mess, is that Jacob’s six-year-old sister has been released from the hospital after undergoing surgery for her injuries. However, the children’s father is still in a coma due to a fractured skull and bleeding in the brain.

Meanwhile, Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, will install a ghost bike for Jacob Ramirez later today.

The ceremony will take place at 7:30 pm on the 12300 block of Haster Street at Twin Tree Lane in Garden Grove.

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Wannabe Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was one of us, as reports suggest he used his bicycle to scout the rally where the shooting took place last Saturday.

He then ditched his bike in full view of cops and crowds of people before climbing onto to warehouse roof and opening fire on the former president.

Which kinda raises the question of why no one noticed a man riding a bicycle while carrying a rifle at a political rally, whether it was in or out of a case.

Meanwhile, a writer for a conservative website writes, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, forget guns, it’s time to ban bicycles.

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A Seal Beach police captain answers a reader’s question to say yes, bicycles are considered vehicles under California law, subject to the same rules and regulations as drivers.

But he doesn’t get it quite right, insisting bike riders can’t use a handheld phone, even though that law specifically applies to motorists only.

And he bizarrely says bicyclists should slow and come to a complete stop at any intersection without a green light, which would mean pissing off drivers by stopping at every uncontrolled intersection.

Then again, we seem to piss off drivers if we stop for stop signs, as well as when we roll through them.

And God help you if you find yourself blocking a driver’s turn because you stopped for a red light.

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Gravel Bike California marks their 5th Anniversary by revisiting their favorite LA Area route.

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It’s now 211 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

The solemnity of a poignant Birmingham, England slow ride in memory of a fallen bicyclist was interrupted by angry drivers blaring on their horns over the momentary inconvenience of having to slow down to go around them. Which kinda made the bicyclist’ point for them.

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

Once again, cops and the news media conflate electric motorcycles and ebikes as if they’re the same thing, with sheriff’s deputies complaining about kids on illegal off-road electric motorcycles — not electric bicycles — terrorizing customers at an Orange County mall with air-soft guns.

………

Local 

LAist reports on the health effects of chronic noise, as the US Department of Transportation says Los Angeles is one of the country’s loudest counties, thanks largely to our incessant traffic.

 

State

A writer for Forbes explains how to love living carless in California. It’s long past time stories like this lost any shock value, when up to a fifth of Angelenos don’t own cars, and seem to manage okay without one. 

A San Francisco writer asks if the city’s most harrowing bikeway is about to become a thing of the past, as a new water taxi promises to replace the narrow chasm of the Posey Tube’s bike/pedestrian sidewalk, which he describes as the “ninth circle of cycling hell.”

 

National

Strong Towns looks at ways to build a biking culture to make your city stronger.

Writing for Streetsblog, former Southland resident Melissa Balmer says it’s time to revive the 1990’s Bikes Belong campaign to help deliver needed funds for active transportation infrastructure, and stop killing people.

Planetizen says specially equipped data bikes can help government agencies better understand conditions on bike paths by collecting information on trail accessibility and pavement conditions to prioritize maintenance projects. That’s if anyone actually cares about conditions on bike paths once they’re built, let alone budget for it.

PeopleForBikes says a simple bike bus helped transform a south Tempe, Arizona neighborhood, while reconnecting students and their parents with joy.

Emergency responders were caught off guard when they found themselves in the middle of a Colorado gravel race as they responded to a bicyclist injured in a multi-rider crash, with competitors reportedly swerving in front of the ambulance. Seriously guys, give emergency vehicles a wide berth, regardless of whether you’re competing in a race or just riding to the corner market. Someone’s life could depend on it. 

Boston officials refute claims that new bike lanes and road diets are slowing ambulance response times, saying roadways are engineered to provide room for emergency vehicles, and ambulances can drive through bike lanes when necessary to get around stalled traffic.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The woman killed in a Philadelphia collision while riding her bike Wednesday night has been identified as a 30-year old medical resident specializing in pediatric cancer patients at a Philly children’s hospital.

 

International

Momentum says the health benefits of bike commuting mean it could be one of the best decisions you ever make, cutting your risk of dying from any cause nearly in half.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever tethered an 18-month old horse to an old bicycle wrapped in barbed wire in an English field, without food or water, leaving the horse emaciated and covered in lice; fortunately, it has made an “astonishing” recovery since after it was rescued five months ago.

Heavyweight boxer Derek Chisora is accused of headbutting a food delivery rider outside a London restaurant, after the victim refused Chisora’s demands that he dismount instead of riding near the fighter’s kids.

Business is booming for a British man who launched a cargo bike sandwich delivery service last month, saying he just used his bike to deliver a few ham sandwiches, and things took off from there.

 

Competitive Cycling

Thursday’s stage of the Tour de France went to former hour record holder Victor Campenaerts, who came out in front of a three man sprint to the finish, while the race leaders held back for the day.

Road.cc says Tadej Pogačar could have ridden a heavier mid-tier bicycle and still matched the time of second-place finisher Remco Evenepoel over the Galibier.

 

Finally..

That feeling when they won’t let you use the drive-thru, so you ride your bike up to the counter inside, instead. Why settle for single wheel propulsion when you can ride a two-wheel drive ebike?

And why steal one bike, when you can use a fork lift to make off with four at once?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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