Tag Archive for Los Angeles

LA Times calls for permanent Slow Streets and no parking minimums near transit, and bike helmets as the last line of defense

April 27, 2021 / / 2 comments

They get it.

The LA Times calls for eliminating minimum parking requirements within a half mile of a major transit stop or transit corridor; according to the paper, AB 1401 would encourage much needed housing while reducing emissions from cars.

That follows their recent call to keep the “Slow Streets, parklets, temporary bike lanes and outdoor dining areas” in a post-pandemic America.

Like all those temporary, popup bike lanes that weren’t build in Los Angeles, for instance.

But at least we have a number of Slow Streets, which could be made permanent and expanded to form a network of Bicycle Friendly Streets.

Photo by Ekrulila from Pexels.

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Here we go again.

A Houston professor of pediatric medicine gets it wrong, saying the first rule of bicycle safety is to always wear a helmet, and don’t ride at night.

Yes, a bike helmet can cut your risk of a head injury if you come off your bike, though studies disagree on just how much.

But what helmet advocates seem to forget is that bike helmets are designed to protect against relatively slow speed falls. Not high speed collisions with a couple tons of semi-ballistic steel and glass.

They should always be seen as the last line of defense when all else fails, not the first; the key to bike safety is to ride defensively so you don’t get hit in the first place.

And telling people not to ride after dark makes no more sense than telling them not to walk or leave their house.

Then again, they do that, too.

While the period from 6 pm to 9 pm is the most dangerous time of day for bike riders, you can cut your risk dramatically just by putting bright lights and reflectors on your bike. And always riding like your life depends on it.

Because it does.

And yes, wear a helmet. Just don’t count on it to save your life.

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The University of Oregon is suing a fired campus cop to recoup the settlement the university had to pay out for his off-campus stop of a Latino bike rider.

The college settled with the family of the victim for $115,000 as a result of the 2018 case, when the cop briefly chased him in his patrol car, then bizarrely pulled his gun on him, despite a total lack of probable cause.

The university alleges the officer, Troy Phillips, lied about what happened, and hid the existence of video and audio recordings of the incident, accusing Phillips of unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution and fabricating evidence.

And says he should be on the hook for the settlement, rather than the school.

In a tragic coda to the story, the victim, 40-year old Eliborio Rodrigues Jr. was shot and killed by a cop the following year, after refusing to show his ID and asking for a sergeant when he was stopped for taking a plastic bottle out of a recycling bin.

Yes, he was killed over a lousy piece of trash.

The shooting was inexplicably ruled justified, despite the flimsy probable cause, when the cop claimed Rodrigues reached for his taser.

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Nothing like criminalizing bike riding, and treating little kids like wanted terrorists or insurrectionists.

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the link.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is one of us, riding his bike around New York as he pledges to fight climate change in a new campaign ad.

Even though Schumer’s wife, former New York DOT commissioner Iris Weinshall, led the fight against the bike lane in front of their home.

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So, if a heavy bollard can’t keep a car out of a building, how are those little plastic bendy posts LA uses to demarcate “protected” bike lanes supposed to do the job?

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A Toronto family insists that tall bikes will save the world, with video of their creations to back it up.

I’ll take the double-deck tandem with one rider perched above, not behind, the other.

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

A road raging British driver will have to pay the equivalent of nearly $1,250 for hiding in some bushes on the side of the road, and pushing a man off his bike as he rode by.

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

Police in the UK are looking for a bike rider who beat a man who was walking his dogs in an apparently unprovoked attack.

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Local

LA Magazine says Hollywood’s newly trendy Sycamore Ave, home to SiriusXM and the offices of Jay Z and Beyoncé, are due to get bike lanes soon. Even though they really belong one block west on busy La Brea Blvd.

Patch says two separate hikers had to be rescued in Pacific Palisades. Even if one of those hikers was traveling on a mountain bike instead of hiking boots.

 

State

For a change, there’s good news from the California legislature, where a bill to decriminalize jay walking passed passed the Assembly Transportation Committee by a ten vote margin. Put another way, AB 1238 would legalize crossing the damn street like a grownup.

San Diego considers a plan to slowly transform car-choked El Cajon Blvd into a series of people-friendly neighborhood hubs, along with a shared rapid bus and bike lane.

 

National

Cosmo wants you to pedal around in style this summer, pitching nine “cute” bike helmets to protect your noggin. Because really, the most important thing is how cute you look on your bike.

T3 offers a beginner’s guide to buying an ebike, including whether you should get one. Hint: yes.

Seattle is eliminating curbs to create people-friendly streets where vehicles are guests. Although not everyone likes the idea.

An Arkansas bike rider learned the hard way that drivers aren’t the only risk we face on the roads when he was attacked by a pack of angry dogs that came charging out of a couple’s yard; he was rushed to the hospital with a tourniquet on his leg. Never mind that the dogs should have been secured so they couldn’t rush out into the street like that, for their own safety, as well as others. 

A Wisconsin man is biking to Louisiana to raise awareness for living organ donations, a year after donating a kidney to a total stranger he met in a bar.

An Ohio man will spend the next eight months behind bars for stealing an 81-year old man’s bicycle. And pay a whopping $75 restitution to buy the victim a new bike.

A new poll conducted by PeopleForBikes shows Pittsburgh residents don’t hate bike lanes after all, with three-quarters agreeing that additional bike and pedestrian infrastructure would more it a more desirable place to live.

Philadelphia begins work on improving six bike lanes throughout the city to improve safety, just days after a woman was killed riding her bike. Why is it that cities always seem to only do the right thing after it’s too late?

A Florida driver belatedly turned himself in a year after killing an 18-year old bike rider in a hit-and-run.

 

International

Toronto bikeshare usage has surged during the pandemic, as people have turned to bikeshare in record numbers after shunning transit. Thanks to Donna Samoyloff for the tip.

It was a bad day for scofflaw Manchester drivers, as a cop in Manchester, England commandeered a bicycle from a passing rider to catch a car thief before he could flee on foot after crashing. And a pair of bike cops in a French district by the same name chased down and busted a Porsche driver for driving recklessly.

A British study shows planting the right shrubs along a roadway can cut pollution by 20%. And even more if there are bikes on that road instead of cars.

A UK air quality and emissions site examines whether the country’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods are the latest victims of the culture wars.

She gets it. A Brit letter writer says cars are destroying her town, while NIMBYs fight anything that would reduce car dependency.

Sadly, the hit-and-run pandemic has spread around the world, infecting Scotland and Japan.

Four of Singapore’s most scenic bike routes for your next trip to the island nation.

 

Competitive Cycling

Prominent German ski mountaineer Anton ‘Toni’ Palzer makes the unusual leap from pro skiing directly to pro cycling’s World Tour.

Bicycling Australia says Gen Z is taking its rightful place on the WorldTour podium.

 

Finally…

Popular bike route Topanga Canyon looked just a tad different a century ago. Presenting the world’s most polite recap of a bike protest.

And take a nine-minute trail break with a good bike, and a better dog.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

And get vaccinated, already.

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

Murder charge for intentionally killing Port Hueneme teen, San Diego hit-and-run victim ID’d, and bike riders behaving badly

April 26, 2021 / / Comments Off on Murder charge for intentionally killing Port Hueneme teen, San Diego hit-and-run victim ID’d, and bike riders behaving badly

More on the murder of a teenage Port Hueneme boy riding his bike.

Twenty-eight-year old Samuel Matthew Rocha faces one count of murder and four counts of attempted murder for intentionally plowing his car through a group of teen bike riders.

The attack came just ten minutes after he assaulted a couple at an Oxnard laundromat, and hit an employee with his car as he fled the parking lot.

His 16-year old victim has still not been publicly identified.

Rocha is being held without bail pending a June court hearing. Hopefully he’ll spend the rest of his life there.

Sadly, that wasn’t the only murder of a bike rider last week.

A Chowchilla man faces homicide charges for the DUI hit-and-run death of a man riding a bike, after telling police investigators he “intentionally wanted to kill someone.”

Let’s hope that one goes away for a very long time, too.

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Bike Portland identifies the victim critically injured in a San Diego hit-and-run last week as a former Portland woman.

Seattle resident Lindsay Caron suffered life-threatening injuries when she was run down from behind on Ingraham Street in Pacific Beach last Monday; she’s currently in a medically induced coma.

A friend has started a Facebook support group for her.

Anyone with information is urged to call San Diego PD’s traffic division at 858-495-7805, or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

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Call it a snapshot of LA bike history from 1983, apparently taken back before the city was colorized.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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A Scottish advocacy movement calls for fighting climate change by making the country bike-friendly.

Make that the world, and we might actually still be here this time next century.

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Well, that’s certainly a horse of a different color. And a couple of cranksets.

Thanks to Ted Faber for the forward.

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Good question.

GCN examines how a bicycle can cost the equivalent of nearly $14,000.

They also have advice for big and tall bike riders on how to get the most out of your bicycle.

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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 Aussie sports talk station complains about the “absurd” reason a pop-up bike lane has been declared a success after nearly doubling the rate of women on bicycles, while a business person blames the bike lanes, not the pandemic, for business being off last year.

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

A beloved Santa Barbara street performer suffered a broken wrist and cuts on his hand when he was knocked to the ground while playing his guitar by a thief who stole his tips before fleeing on a bicycle.

An Arkansas man got five years for a pair of drug cases, as well as riding his old bike into a Walmart and riding out with a new one while claiming it was okay because he was a police officer. He isn’t, and it wasn’t.

Greensboro NC drivers complain about a bike rider who was allegedly weaving in and out of traffic, blocking and hitting cars while harassing their drivers; police were unable to find him after getting a single complaint.

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Local

In news that would have been unbelievable just a few years ago, the former Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills adopts Complete Streets as a “high-level concept,” though just what that will mean on the streets will need to be fleshed out. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the link.

 

State

California police organizations teamed with the ACLU to gut proposals for automated speed enforcement to help keep our roads deadly. SB 735, which called for legalizing speed cams in school zones, was amended to death, while AB 550, which would allow speed cams in high crash zones, survives for now, albeit in a reduced form.

Grab your bike for a 13-mile self-guided scavenger hunt through Solana Beach next month.

A pair of Santa Barbara residents complain about the city’s recently approved Westside bike lane project, arguing that it will create a traffic nightmare in their Eastside neighborhood.

A Palo Alto writer says bike routes should be safe routes, but too often aren’t.

 

National

Nice to see the national GOP fighting for the rights of drivers to use their cars as weapons to run over any protesters that happen to get in their way. Because evidently, there’s just not enough traffic violence in American politics.

Brompton is recalling its ebikes in the US to fix a bug that can keep the e-assist going even when you’re not pedaling.

A writer for Outside sings the praises of the humble handlebar bag.

Road Bike Action lists nine essential skills every bike rider needs to master. Actually, some of these only apply to roadies, and only if you plan to ride in a group. Unless maybe you plan to bump cruiser bike riders on the beach bike path.

Portland takes a whimsical approach to bike lane markers.

A Billings, Montana writer discusses the joys of early season bike riding in Yellowstone National Park, as long as you dress in layers and watch out for bison, goose and elk poop.

Wannabe bike thieves drove a truck into the front of a Denver ebike shop, causing $100,000 in damages to the store and bicycles, without getting away with anything.

An op-ed from an Iowa paper says bike licensing laws are rarely enforced, but can lead to over policing, as we saw in New Jersey last week.

A Texas father complains that the drunk driver who killed his bike-riding son may escape jail time, due to a plea deal in the works.

After initially cancelling their annual Christmas bike giveaway, Fayetteville, Arkansas’ Bicycle Man organization donated 1,000 bikes to local kids; the group has given away over 27,000 bicycles since starting in a couple’s backyard 31 years ago.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Kentucky man faces a DUI charge in Wisconsin after he was found sleeping in his car with the engine running; this is his fifth DUI in four different states. The law has to be changed to make drunk and drugged driving offenses follow drivers from state to state, so they can’t escape prosecution for multiple violations.

Chicago students honored a military family by giving their kids new bicycles.

No surprise here, as a New Jersey professor says that Black and brown bike riders too often bear the brunt of police enforcement, with minor traffic violations used as a pretext to stop and interrogate them. Meanwhile, Bloomberg examines the problem of racial profiling and discriminatory enforcement of bike registration laws.

Florida clarifies its three-foot passing law to say drivers must pass at a safe distance of at least three feet, or safely follow a bike rider or pedestrian until they can.

 

International

Bicycling says Baja is a mountain biking paradise, and one of bicycling’s best kept secrets. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

A folding military bicycle has come home to Canada, nearly 80 years after a Canadian soldier gave it to a French boy after landing in Normandy, who passed it down to his daughter.

Crossdressing British comedian Eddie Izzard is one of us.

Bikes can take you anywhere. Even to the cemetery of a 920-year old Northumbrian church, where the father of the UK’s National Health Service rests, along with a leading WWII-era British Nazi and, briefly, half of his best-selling author son.

An Indian man discusses watching the liberalization of Calcutta from the seat of his bike, as well as using it for collective ganja runs in college.

Bikeshare comes to Jerusalem, with 120 ebikes and 80 standard bikes at 25 stations across the city. Let’s hope that’s just a start, because 200 bike won’t go very far.

Dubai police stop a company worker for carrying the equivalent of nearly $275,000 on his bicycle in a plastic bag, insisting he put himself at risk of robbery by not transporting it in a car. Because people in cars never get robbed, right?

Even Nairobi is outstripping Los Angeles, with plans to invest 1.47 billion Kenyan shillings in new bikeways and walkways outside of the city center, although that converts to just $13.5 million. But as Stormin’ Norman points out in forwarding the story, the average Kenyan consumes just 2% of the resources of the average American, so that figure is a lot higher in context.

A writer for Outside says no, you probably can’t Everest Mt. Everest, because of that whole certain death thing.

 

Competitive Cycling

Slovenian Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar claimed his first one-day classic by out-sprinting world champion Julian Alaphilippe to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday. Meanwhile, Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering sprinted past Annemiek van Vleuten to win the women’s race.

Like father — and grandfather and uncle — like son, as an Irish man takes up the family tradition as an Olympic hopeful cyclist, while his brother goes his own way as a pro soccer player.

 

Finally…

As long as you’re riding across the country, might as well stop for a half-marathon along the way. Is that a pruning saw in your pocket, or are you just happy to be riding your bike?

And why walk down the aisle when you can ride in style?

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Thanks to John H and Megan L for their generous, and unexpected, donations to help support this site, and keep SoCal’s best bike news coming your way every day. 

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

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

LAPD seeks Boyle Heights hit-and-run big rig driver, NJ governor calls out cops, and FL cops hold Black bike riders at gunpoint

April 23, 2021 / / One comment

I’m going to cut things a little short today. 

While my hand is doing better today, it seems to be asking a little too much of it to write this post, along with the earlier piece about a fatal bike collision in San Diego’s Balboa Park. 

I’ll try to catch up on Monday if we missed anything important. 

Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

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The LAPD is looking for the driver of a big rig truck who fled the scene after running down a bike rider in Boyle Heights last month.

The driver stopped briefly after striking the man as he rode his bike on the north sidewalk of Olympic Boulevard just east of Boyle Avenue, but didn’t identify himself or stick around.

So much for the usual truck driver excuse that they didn’t know they hit anyone.

The 30-year old victim spent several days in the ICU with multiple fractures and internal injuries.

The truck is described as possibly being a white 2015 Freightliner Columbia 120, with what looks like a sleeper cab, while the driver is described only as a man in his 30’s who could be Latino.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Officer Garcia at 213/833-3713 or email 39759@lapd.online.

And while the story doesn’t mention it, but should be eligible for the city’s standing $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injury.

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Apparently, New Jersey’s governor takes a dim view of Perth Amboy cops giving the state a black eye by seizing bikes from teenage boys.

Let alone the optics of a half-dozen white cops taking a Black teen into custody for a lousy traffic violation.

https://twitter.com/YIMBY_Princeton/status/1385026541269225474

Meanwhile, a New Jersey paper looks at how Perth Amboy’s draconian enforcement compares with bike laws in other cities in the state.

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Along the same lines — but much worse — Orlando Police forced a pair of black men to crawl at gunpoint, after somehow concluding they matched the description of a pair of robbery suspects.

In other words, busted for Biking While Black after dark.

They were cuffed and held at gunpoint for nearly three hours, until a witness to the robbery arrived to tell the cops they had the wrong guys.

Which they could have determined hours earlier by just by checking their alibis at the 7-11 the men had just left.

@riskie_e

What you think happen

♬ original sound – Riskie _E

The local chief of police defended his officers, insisting they acted appropriately — even though about the only way they matched the suspect description was they’re both men.

And Black.

One of the men posted another video saying he’s afraid to ride his bike now, and has cried several times since the incident, thinking about what could have happened.

There’s just no damn excuse.

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Seriously, Larry?

Air Talk originates on Pasadena public radio station KPCC .

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The state house celebrated Earth Day by passing AB 122, the proposed Safety Stop bill that would allow bike riders to treat stop signs as yields.

Now it’s on to an uncertain fate in the state senate.

Let’s hope they show the same good sense as the assembly.

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

Police in Georgia are looking for the jackass pickup driver who just slightly broke the state’s three foot passing law, coming so close his mirror brushed the rider as he sped by.

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

Miami police are reopening the case of a group of bike riders who severely beat a man walking with his husband last November, to see if it’s related to a similar attack in March.

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Local

This is the cost of traffic violence. College basketball player Terrence Clarke, a one-and-done freshman from the University of Kentucky, was killed in an afternoon car crash in LA’s San Fernando Valley, where he was preparing for the upcoming NBA draft; Clarke reportedly ran a red light while traveling at a high rate of speed.

Nice piece from Bicycling, as LA’s Gabriella Ortega spends the pandemic rediscovering our city on two wheels. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

Metro announce that Bike Month will be back this year, with a Bike Anywhere Day on Friday the 21st replacing the usual Thursday Bike to Work Day; Bike Week will take place from May 17th to the 23rd. Maybe I’ll be recovered enough by then to ride somewhere on Bike Anywhere Day.

 

State

The board chair of the San Diego Bike Coalition and the executive director of BikeSD team for an op-ed refuting recent criticisms of the area’s protected bike lanes, arguing that safe bikeways are needed to introduce San Diegans to bike commuting.

Bike riders often find things when they ride. A dead body in a Sunnyvale lagoon, not so much.

Berkeley residents have taken to bikeshare during the pandemic.

After losing his home and 16 bicycles in the Camp Fire, a newly retired physical therapist rebuilds his life by opening a bike shop in Oroville.

 

National

Evidently, REI’s commitment to the environment only goes as far as their support from — and for — the makers of gas-guzzling SUVs. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

Um, no. The CEO of bicycle subscription company Buzzbike says urban private bicycle ownership will be dead within the coming decade. Meanwhile, Twitter user Steven Mandrapa responded by writing “We also predict people will no longer own their own pants and will prefer to rent pants anytime they go outside.” Touché, Steven.

A pair of New Mexico burglars end up donating their bicycle to the local community college after triggering an alarm, and leaving their bike behind as they ran away.

Life is cheap in Ohio, where a motorcyclist will spend a lousy nine months behind bars for killing a 15-year old kid riding a bicycle, despite riding with a suspended license. At least they’re suspending his license for five years, even though that didn’t seem to stop him the last time.

 

International

Bike Radar offers advice on how to prevent flats.

Apparently, it’s the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Opponents of London’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods — the equivalent of Slow Streets on this side of the Atlantic — claim they impede emergency vehicles, with little or no facts to support it. And yes, Low Traffic Neighborhoods is a much better name than Slow Streets.

Britain’s Prince Louis, the youngest child of future king Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, celebrated his third birthday with a balance bike ride.

An Edinburgh bike rider has to buy the frame of his new bike back from the thief who stole it for the equivalent of $55 after he spots it online, but can’t interest the local cops in reclaiming it.

 

Competitive Cycling

Signs suggest that former Dutch pro Tom Dumoulin may be rethinking his surprising decision to step away from the sport.

Apparently the only thing that will allow someone else to win the women’s Flèche Wallonne will be Anna van der Breggen’s impending retirement, after she won her seventh consecutive title.

World champ Julian Alaphilippe took the men’s Flèche Wallonne for the third time.

The lack of a spare team car meant American Alex Howes had to rely on a badly fitting bike from the Flèche Wallonne’s neutral service after developing a problem with his rear wheel.

Here’s your chance to win real cash for a virtual gran fondo.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a sleeping gator brings your trail ride to a quick halt. That feeling when putting in bike lanes is just “too problematic.”

And remember, you don’t have to outrun the bear.

Just any other riders on the trail.

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

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

San Diego woman critical after hit-and-run, more on Biking While Black arrest, and CA Stop as Yield Bill up for vote tomorrow

April 21, 2021 / / Comments Off on San Diego woman critical after hit-and-run, more on Biking While Black arrest, and CA Stop as Yield Bill up for vote tomorrow

San Diego police are looking for the heartless coward who left a 39-year old woman with life threatening injuries.

The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was riding her bike on Ingraham Street near Fortuna Avenue when the driver ran her down from behind Monday night.

The suspect was driving a dark colored, four-door SUV with front-end damage; anyone with information is urged to call the SDPD’s Traffic Division at 858/495-7805.

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More details on the video of a several white cops confiscating bikes from a group of teenage riders — all of whom were people of color — and arresting a young Black bicyclist for the crime of not having a bike license or lights.

In broad daylight, no less.

No, seriously.

A longer video show the events leading up to the arrest in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where a group of teens were popping wheelies and riding salmon through traffic.

Officers were able to corner several riders who broke away from the main mass of riders, leading them to confiscate four bikes that didn’t have the city’s required bike license. Even though they were initially promised their bikes wouldn’t be taken.

The Black teen was arrested for refusing to turn over his bike.

Even though it’s highly questionable whether police have the right to confiscate bicycles for a simple infraction — let alone arrest someone for what amounts to a ticketable traffic offense.

Especially if the kids are from out of town, since a city’s licensing requirement can’t be enforced against nonresidents.

And even though licensing laws, like helmet laws, are too often enforced against people of color, often as a pretext for an otherwise illegal search.

Fortunately, the cops came to their senses and returned the bikes a few hours later, as well as releasing the young man who’d been arrested.

The head of the New Jersey chapter of the ACLU offered this take on the incident.

He added these thoughts in a later statement.

“The incident in Perth Amboy is an example of the kind of excessive criminalization that invites selective enforcement by police officers,” Sinha told NJ Advance Media. “Black and brown people are targeted and racially profiled for normal activities like riding bikes, walking down the street, or driving a car.”

“No one should be threatened with arrest or have their bike confiscated just for riding down the street rather than the sidewalk,” he added. “And we should be alarmed when police use their authority to brand normal behavior as crimes.”

Which pretty well sums up this whole sad affair of Biking While Black or Brown.

And yes, the whole damn thing could have been handled better.

Hopefully it will be, since a county prosecutor is looking into the complaint filed by the ACLU.

But I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Thanks to Al Williams for his help in identifying the location of the first video yesterday.

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It’s time to weigh in on California’s proposed Safety Stop Bill, aka the Idaho Stop Law, that would allow bike riders to legally treat stop signs as yields.

Which is exactly what many, if not most, of us already do.

Bike Talk recently discussed the bill with Burbank Assembly Woman Laura Friedman.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s state senate just passed a similar bill, which will now go back to the state house for final approval.

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Also tomorrow, take a moment to voice your support for neighborhood greenways in Pasadena.

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Florida just legalized vehicular homicide if someone you disagree with politically blocks the roadway.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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Megan Lynch also forwards video of Portland bike cops violently attacking a man on a bike who tried to ride through a small group of protestors, and using their bikes to push back the other people.

https://twitter.com/Claudio_Report/status/1384734424282013703

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

Apparently, someone in New York’s Greenpoint neighborhood doesn’t like Open Streets, using a fake Amazon van to steal several barricades and toss them in a nearby Superfund site. Fortunately, community volunteers were able to rescue them from the water.

A wealthy British corporate director will spend the next six months behind bars for pushing a man off his bicycle while walking in a park, resulting in five broken ribs, while his wife got a small fine for lying to police about who did it.

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

A San Diego man rode off on a bike after snatching a duck from a community pond and stuffing it in his backpack.

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Local

A UCLA professor is using art to promote bicycling, working with the LACBC and the school’s Luskin School of Public Affairs to create interactive, digital murals that “will simultaneously connect commuters, create safe routes around the city, and allow everyone to contribute to a work of public art.”

LA County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating the shooting death of a man in Huntington Park; he was found next to a bicycle, but they aren’t sure if he or his killer was riding it.

 

State

A 15-year old Rio Lindo girl is recovering from a horrific hit-and-run after a driver dragged her under his truck; to make matters worse, they know who was driving the truck, yet he still hasn’t been charged with the crime.

The owner of a Fresno bike shop is frustrated after thieves break in for the third time in less than a year, taking three bikes worth $1,500 in the latest burglary.

A memorial service with an optional bike ride will be held next month for 86-year old Joe Shami, known as the Legend of Mount Diablo, after he was killed in a collision with an SUV driver; the much-loved Shami earned fame and fans by riding up the Bay Area mountain at least once a week for 615 consecutive weeks.

Manteca removed its bicycle licensing requirement, but is keeping a ban on sidewalk riding.

UC Davis is teaming with the city to reimagine Russel Boulevard, the busy thoroughfare that forms the northern border of the campus; the street carries 8,000 bike riders and 13,000 transit users each day, topping the daily 20,000 motorists that use the street.

 

National

The Bike League is offering 40 League Cycling Instructor scholarships for riders who are Black, Indigenous or people of color.

A Canadian Olympic cycling team hopeful wants help getting her bike back, after it was stolen from a convenience store while training in Tucson.

An Iowa public radio station talks with a student in the University of Iowa’s Medical Scientist Training Program about how he overcame a near-fatal bicycling crash.

In an unusual twist, a New York State pedestrian was ticketed for walking on the wrong side of the street after dark when a 63-year old bike rider slammed into him from behind; the pedestrian was apparently uninjured, but the woman on the bike suffered a serious head injury.

Ocean City NJ is planning to crackdown on teen “bike gangs” they accuse of menacing the city’s boardwalk.

A Savannah, Georgia woman says some of the happiest, most liberated people she knows ride bikes. No argument here.

 

International

Road.cc considers the best ti bikes, starting at a relatively low $1,700.

Cycling Tips finds what they call the silliest bike campaign on Kickstarter, a low-end carbon fiber mountain bike that appears to have been cobbled together using spare parts from Alibaba, China’s ubiquitous Amazon equivalent.

You’ve got to be kidding. An English city council member is accused of insulting overly sensitive Covid victims by saying that scrapping a temporary bike lane would be a tragedy.

Ireland’s Image magazine suggests several cute women’s outfits for your next bike ride. The outfits are cute, not necessarily the women wearing them. Although they might be, too.

 

Competitive Cycling

A trio of Ventura County TV stations offer an introduction to Ayesha McGowan, the first Black American women’s pro cyclist.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the coronavirus pandemic means you’ll have to ride naked by yourself. Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson is one of us, too.

And at last, a solution for the age old problem of never having a speed bump when and where you really need one.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

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

Death of DC bike advocate reveals LA safety failures, LADOT bike count up 22%, and arrested for Biking While Black

April 20, 2021 / / 4 comments

Thanks to everyone for all the kind words following my surgery earlier this month. 

My fumble fingers are finally functional again, even though the swollen new Frankenhand they’re attached to is still almost, sort of, not really, kind of back to normal.

But it’ll get there. And nearly two weeks after surgery, the pain is already better than it was before, so there’s that.

Meanwhile, we have a lot to catch up on.

It will take a few days to catch up on all the bike news we missed, but I’ll make sure we don’t miss out on anything important. 

So let’s get started on the first installment. 

And my apologies for the near-total lack of credits today; with one exception forwarded by multiple people yesterday, I lost track of who sent what to my attention during my extended downtime, which is going to be a problem until we get caught up. 

Photo by Eva Elijas from Pexels.

……..

Heartbreaking news from DC, where a longtime bike advocate was killed in a collision, just hours after tweeting about the dangers on the city’s streets.

Here’s how the Washington Post described it.

(Jim) Pagels was struck in a horrific chain-reaction crash along Massachusetts Avenue NW, about a mile from his home on Capitol Hill, his family said. The avid rider and self-described urbanist who was in his second year of a doctorate program in economics, died at a hospital.

Pagels’s sister, Laura Menendez, described her brother as funny, smart and passionate about many things — pursuing his postgraduate studies, playing tennis and board games, and traveling by bike.

“He had a good heart,” Menendez said. “And he was such a huge advocate for bike safety.”

The paper also quotes a friend of Pagels.

“He was so excited about working in that urban space,” said Finn Vigeland, a close friend who met Pagels while the two worked on the Columbia Daily Spectator. “He was well aware of the dangers of cycling . . . but he loved biking, and he wanted everyone to bike. He wanted everyone to feel like this was the best way to get around D.C…

I hope our city leaders hear about Jim and understand the life that was so senselessly taken away on Friday. He cared so deeply about the injustices that led to his death, and he would want us to be furious about it,” Vigeland said. “I hope that knowing that this was something Jim was working so hard to change might prompt people to take bolder action.”

Let’s hope city leaders get the message here, too.

Before it’s too late for someone else.

Meanwhile, a writer for the LA Times took the death of his friend and former college classmate personally.

And used the tragedy as a springboard to call for safer streets, and talk with Michael Schneider, founder of LA street safety PAC Streets For All.

It doesn’t take long for their conversation to get to the heart of the problems on our streets.

ME: Six years ago, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti set a goal of zero traffic-related deaths by 2025, part of the global Vision Zero initiative. So far, we’re not on track to meet that goal. My colleague Steve Lopez recently reported that 238 people died in car crashes in Los Angeles last year — only a tiny decrease from 2019 despite significantly reduced traffic due to COVID-19, and just 8% less than the first full year Garcetti’s policy was in effect. What is going on?

SCHNEIDER: Our city is very good at plans and goals and not very good at implementation. Can you imagine if you were a heart surgeon and people were coming in for heart surgery, and no one would let you operate? Vision Zero is a laudable goal, but until we have a City Council and a mayor who will spend the political capital to make the tough decisions and deal with NIMBY blowback to make changes to our streets, it’s never going to happen…

ME: Where has Mayor Garcetti been on safe streets?

SCHNEIDER: Absent. He says all the right stuff, and he hires great people, like Seleta Reynolds. He will never risk his neck at all for a bike lane or a bus lane.

But I think we’re on the cusp of some exciting changes, especially because the city of Los Angeles has now aligned their elections with federal elections, and the turnout is so much larger and so much more progressive. I think we are on the cusp of truly having different political leadership, where a guy like Paul Koretz, who’s termed out, couldn’t win in 2022 and beyond. And where someone like Nithya Raman, who had making the city more bikeable in her campaign messaging, can defeat an incumbent.

Then there was this about the recent failed attempt to make iconic Melrose Ave safer and more livable for everyone.

ME: Talking about blowback, I read the post you wrote about the proposed “Uplift Melrose” project, which would have added protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks and shaded seating areas along a 1.3-mile stretch of Melrose Avenue. There was broad support from local businesses, but City Councilmember Paul Koretz effectively killed the proposal. Why is it so difficult politically to get changes like these approved?

SCHNEIDER: Opponents typically say the following: If you remove parking or reduce car capacity in any way, how are people going to shop or get to businesses? You’re going to kill business. They also ask, “Why would we invest in this when no one uses the bike lanes anyway?” People cite anecdotes of driving by bike lanes and seeing them empty.

If we had a beautiful six-lane paved highway that only went for one mile and then became a dirt road with potholes, how many cars would take that road? That is the equivalent of what we ask people to do when they bike around Los Angeles. If we had a network of protected bike lanes, you would see a ton of people using them. One piece of evidence is CicLAvia. Those events bring out tens of thousands of people to ride their bikes on closed streets.

What happened to Uplift Melrose was egregious even by L.A. standards. Koretz basically became a puppet for mostly white, wealthy homeowners who couldn’t see themselves riding a bike or a bus.

Pagels’ death serves as a tragic reminder of what can happen to anyone on the streets — even though the risk to any one of us at any particular time is infinitesimally small.

But if anything ever happens to me when I’m riding a bicycle, I want you to politicize the hell out of it.

Take what’s left of my body to the city council and dump it on the dais, if you have to.

Metaphorically speaking, of course. Or literally, for that matter.

And if it happens on a street marked for safety improvements in city’s mobility plan, I hope those lawyers up there on the right will join together to sue the hell out of the city for failing to keep their commitment to safer streets.

Or maybe just sue over LA’s failed and forgotten Vision Zero plan to force the cowards we foolishly elected to lead us to the changes we so desperately need on our streets.

………

LADOT has finally release the results of the city’s biennial walk and bike count, which for years has been done on a volunteer basis by the LACBC and later, LA Walks.

Which is something they should have been doing all along.

The result was a 22% increase in bicycle rates from the last count — in 2017.

And yes, they are just now releasing data collected that was collected two years ago, for reasons known only to them.

It also shows how easy it is to boost bicycling with a little decent infrastructure, with a 73% jump in ridership as a result of the protected and separated bike lanes on the MyFigueroa project.

MyFig also resulted the city’s most heavily-trafficked pedestrian corridor, even above the tourist-clogged sidewalks of Hollywood Blvd.

And it points to how Los Angeles can increase the far too low rate of women riding bikes on city streets.

While the report found that women make up 40 percent of pedestrians on weekdays and 44 percent on weekends, women made up just 14 percent of cyclists.  However, the report also indicated a 120 percent increase in female riders on streets improved with dedicated bike paths.

In other words, all they have to do is what the city already committed to in the 2010 bike plan, and the mobility plan that subsumed it.

Not to mention LA’s nearly forgotten Vision Zero and the mayor’s Green New Deal.

………

What the hell.

I’m not sure where this video is from; I can’t make out the the police patches or or the name on the patrol cars.

But something looks seriously wrong about a bunch of while cops taking a young black man into custody for the crime of…wait for it…

…riding a bicycle without lights or licenses.

In the middle of the day, no less.

And while some cities require bikes to be registered, I don’t know any place where police have the authority to seize private property over a handful of minor infractions.

Which would be illegal as hell if they tried to seize someone’s car for an expired license or failing to signal a turn.

Let alone not having their headlights on in broad daylight.

Unfortunately, there’s a term for crap like this — Biking While Black.

And regardless of their motivation, it makes the cops look racist AF.

Thanks to Jon, Megan Lynch and Stacey Kline for the heads-up. 

And if anyone knows where this happened, let me know so I’ll never make the mistake of going there.

Update: Thanks to Al Williams for identifying this as Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Which I will make a point of never visiting. 

………

If you live or ride in Beverly Hills, the city needs to hear from you at today’s city council meeting, where councilmembers will consider the city’s proposed Complete Streets plan.

………

When is a bike lane not a bike lane?

When it’s free parking for a tire shop.

………

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

A Texas bike rider bike rider was hospitalized with a brain bleed and facial fractures when he was run down by a drunk driver — while riding on an ostensibly carfree bike path.

Singaporean actor Tay Ping Hui says he’s got nothing against bicyclists, despite complaining when a small group of riders merged onto the roadway ahead of him. Because apparently, it’s asking too much to slow down or change lanes to drive safely around them.

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

No bias here, either. A Singapore motorcyclist calls for banning bicycles from the roads after watching one — count ’em, one — scofflaw bicyclist weaving through traffic. Meanwhile, the website somehow feels the need to point out that 34 bike riders were ticketed for breaking the law over the weekend. Makes you wonder how many motorcyclists got tickets the same weekend. Let alone drivers. But sure, blame everyone on bicycles.

………

Local

LA Magazine highlights “cool” bike accessories to keep you riding in style. Too bad they forgot to feature that mirrored helmet in the main photo. Because who wouldn’t want to look like a human disco ball?

LA Taco takes a look at nine kinds of bad drivers you’ll meet on the streets of Los Angeles — and they include kids on scooters in that.

Keep an extra eye open if you’re riding the Arroyo Bike Path through Arroyo Seco Park, where a man walking on the pathway was shot several times by couple men who approached him around dusk Sunday evening.

A proposal for protected bike lanes on Pasadena’s North Lake Ave would keep 98% of the current parking on the street.

LA County Sheriff’s Deputies made a spectacular rescue of a mountain biker who went off the side of the road on Mt. Wilson; the victim was hanging head-first over a sheer cliff, clinging to the rock face like a cat, suspended by a thin cord around his ankle.

Former Lakers star Kobe Bryant was one of us, starting his bike rides at 4:30 am and not coming home until the sun was at its peak.

 

State

A bill currently under consideration in the state legislature would increase the penalties for a fatal hit-and-run from 2 to 4 years to 3 to 6. It’s already been watered down from the original proposal, which would have doubled the penalties for hit-and-run that result in death or permanent serious injury.

Calbike wants your support for the proposed Safety Stop Bill, which would allow bike riders to treat stop signs as yields. Which is exactly what many riders safely do right now. And far too many drivers do unsafely.

AB117, the bill that would create a $10 million fund to help lower income Californians buy ebikes, passed its first test in the Assembly Transportation Committee.

Meanwhile, AB 43 unanimously passed the Assembly Transportation Committee with no opposition; the bill would retain the deadly 85th Percentile Law, but allow cities to consider factors other than drivers’ right feet in setting speed limits, such as the location as well as pedestrian and bicycle safety.

California is joining a nationwide movement to prioritize safety over speed. The question is whether the shift is real, or if the legislature will simply pass a few feel good bills before forgetting all about it and moving on to other matters, as too often happens.

Credit old school police work. Riverside police finally busted the hit-and-run driver who killed 52-year old Brian Sabel two years ago, arresting 34-year old Menifee resident Steven Allen Watson Jr. for the crime, despite the apparent lack of any witnesses or evidence at the time of the crash.

Bay Area bike riders may want to ride with a partner or group around Grizzly Peak Boulevard in the hills above Berkeley, where a number of solo riders have been robbed by armed bike jackers; at least five riders have been run off the road and robbed at gunpoint or knifepoint since late March.

A San Francisco ER physician calls for keeping the city’s Safe Streets, saying they’ve helped empty his emergency room.

A San Francisco woman celebrates seven years of living carfree after switching to an ebike when her car was totaled by an uninsured driver; she claims she’s saved over $50,000 over that period.

 

National

Of course she gets it. Former New York DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan teams with her Streetfight co-auther to call for cities to hold onto the street space reclaimed for people during the pandemic, saying surrendering our cities to cars would be a historic blunder.

My hometown university has now joined the Vision Zero club. Which isn’t too surprising, considering it’s surrounded by one of the nation’s most bike-friendly communities. Even though it didn’t get that way until long after I left, of course.

Apparently writing with all seriousness, a New Hampshire medical worker and self-described cyclist says he worked with a state legislator on a bill that would require bicyclists to ride salmon, but the bill died when he couldn’t get time off work to attend the hearing. Because evidently, riding a bike in New Hampshire just isn’t dangerous enough already.

A Massachusetts man got his fat tire bike back two months after it was stolen, when he recognized it being ridden by a burglary suspect on a TV news story about a break-in.

The Big Apple is getting a belated start on the micromobility revolution, as the city finally gets its first e-scooters.

 

International

In a story that’s scary as hell, a writer for Bike Radar examines whether lane-keeping technology poses a risk to bike riders, after he had to wrestle a car for control to avoid running down a bike rider sharing the same lane.

T3 considers what you get with a high-end road bike that you don’t with a cheap one. Or put another way, is an expensive bike really worth 20 times more than a low-end bike?

A pair of Vancouver business owners are taking their case to the British Columbia Supreme Court to fight the re-installation of a protected bike lane through a park, arguing the decision to swap a traffic lane for a bikeway wasn’t “reasonable, rational or logical.” Seriously. It’s in a park.

There’s a special place in hell for the jerk who stole an ebike from a disabled 13-year old English girl.

A pregnant British driver will spend the next 30 months behind bars for killing an 80-year old triathlete while chatting with her sister on WhatsApp; no word on whether her baby will spend the first years of its life in prison with her.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 26-year old driver got a lousy 35 months in jail for intentionally running down a 13-year old boy riding his bike after getting into an argument with the kid in a park, and following him for 20 minutes before using his car as a weapon to attack him.

Scottish cyclist Josh Quigley is on his second day of a world record attempt for the greatest distance ridden on a bicycle in a single week, attempting to ride 320 miles a day in an 80-mile loop through the Scottish countryside; he’s aiming for Aussie pro Jack Thompson’s record of 2,177 miles, despite suffering multiple broken bones in a crash three months ago.

France is now allowing drivers to trade their old, smog-belching cars for a nearly $3,000 grant to buy a new ebike.

Last year was even a bad year for bike riders in the Netherlands, with the highest number of bicycling deaths in the past 25 years.

This is who we share the road with. A Kiwi driver is filmed blissfully driving on the right side of the road — which is the wrong side Down Under adjacent — until confronted head-on by a large truck. If your first thought was that it was probably just an American tourist confused about what side to drive on, join the club.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch legend Marianne Vos outsprinted the competition to win the one-day Amstel Gold Race on Sunday; Belgian Wout van Aert took the men’s race by a nose in a photo finish.

More proof cycling hasn’t kicked its doping habit yet, after 52-year old California masters racer Vahe Aivazian was banned for four years for testing positive for not one, not two, but ten different banned drugs. But the era of doping is over, right?

 

Finally…

That feeling when your personal traffic bypass bridge turns out to be a pedestrian walkway. That feeling when you’re an elected official with no idea what Bicycle Day is all about.

And who needs to pick a bike lock when you can just blow it up with a hand grenade?

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

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

‘Bama city proposes annual bike license, murderous bike riders, and confronting the Highway-Auto-Petroleum Complex

April 7, 2021 / / One comment

One quick note before we get started. 

I’m going to be off the rest of the week after surgery on my arm and hand. 

I was scheduled for carpal tunnel surgery in December, which was cancelled at the last minute when Covid-19 overwhelmed the hospitals, and elective surgeries were put on hold. 

But a last minute opening to have the surgery came up unexpectedly yesterday. Unfortunately, though, my condition continued to deteriorate in the meantime; what was a simple wrist operation will now include surgery on my elbow and hand, as well. 

As a result, I’m not sure how long it will take to get the use of my arm and hand back, which means I’m not sure how long it will be before I can get back to bringing you the latest bike news. I’m planning to be back on Monday, but it could be longer. 

And yes, all that damage was caused by diabetes. Which is one more reason to do whatever you can to avoid it. 

So have good weekend, ride safe, and hopefully I’ll see you next week. 

………

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

An Alabama city proposes a $5 annual license in order to ride a bicycle on the streets for anyone over 16. And the mayor can’t understand why anyone would object to that.

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

A Milwaukee man is charged with murdering a prominent immigration lawyer in a road rage incident that began when the lawyer yelled at the other man for riding his bike on the wrong side of the road, nearly causing a collision; the man in the bike shot the victim as he was getting out of his wife’s car to confront the bicyclist.

In another violent attack, an English man was caught on video hopping off his bicycle, then repeatedly stabbing a car passenger through the open window before riding off; no word on the condition of the driver.

………

Local

Caltrans is living up to their promise to change their previous auto centric ways, so far, at least, with $227 million in grants for North Coast safety projects, including a Eureka road diet and buffered bike lanes.

The Eastsider offers a recap of Eagle Rock’s Beautiful Boulevard plan, noting that it’s designed to maintain the community’s small town feel, while making room for the NoHo-to-Pasadena bus rapid transit line on Colorado Blvd.

Months after Los Angeles announced a partnership with Bike Index to register bicycles, Hermosa Beach announces they’re teaming with Project 529 to do the same thing there. Which will inevitably complicate bike theft reporting and recovery, since police will now have to check both sites.

 

State

Calbike gives a rave review to the new book Cycling for Sustainable Cities, calling it “an essential and accessible reference for bicycle advocates.”

The Huntington Beach city council voted unanimously to allow ebikes back on the beach bike path, reversing a four year ban.

 

National

Forbes‘ Carlton Reid says the road to a greener future won’t be easy, as academics predict America’s “Highway-Auto-Petroleum Complex” will rise up to battle the former Mayor Pete’s plans to transform American transportation.

A political website looks at the pitched battle being waged over reforming the 862-page bible for traffic engineers and planners, aka the MUTCD, or Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

A writer for C|net offers his favorite bicycling gear for this spring, from a Camelbak backpack to a Trek trucker hat.

Pez Cycling News looks at the beliefs and attitudes regarding bicycling concussions.

Bicycling offers tips on how to diagnose and fix those odd squeaks and rattles coming from your bike. As usual, read it on Yahoo if you’re blocked by Bicycling.

Bicycling also highlights six women framebuilders who are changing perceptions of who rides — and builds — a bike. Here’s the usual Yahoo version.

A Portland man accuses the city’s Department of Transportation of lying about a decision not to build protected bike lanes; he’s crowdfunding $50,000 to file suit against the city.

According to a Seattle website, the city’s mandatory bike helmet law is a racist failure, with enforcement unfairly targeting people of color.

A Washington hiker is claiming self-defense for repeatedly stabbing a mountain biker with an illegal spring-loaded knife, arguing that the rider attacked him; the mountain biker says he fell on the alleged knifer after someone grabbed his handlebars and he couldn’t clip out of his pedals.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 75-year old diabetic man lost 75 pounds and cut his insulin injections, and lowered his cholesterol and blood pressure by taking up bicycling. Unfortunately, I don’t have 7.5 pounds to lose, let alone 75.

That’s more like it. An Iowa woman will spend the next five years behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that killed a man riding his bike, even though she called police an hour later to report the collision.

 

International

Congratulations. You emit an average of 84% less CO2 than other road users when you ride a bike.

A writer for Treehugger explains six things she’s learned from riding an ebike, including that she’s often surrounded by curious onlookers.

A British Columbia website offers a beginners course in sharing the road with bike riders, explaining what a bike lane is and why drivers can’t use them.

Nice gesture, as an English man raised funds to give his retiring pastor a new bicycle to thank the pastor for his work with the church and the bicycling community, and for teaching him how to repair a bicycle.

When in Rome. Literally, in this case, as the Eternal City is reconfiguring a roadway to create a wide bicycle and pedestrian path linking the Colosseum to the Circus Maximus.

Tamil superstar Thalapathy Vijay caused a stir on social media by riding a bicycle to vote in an Indian state election, with people speculating on what kind of message he was trying to send, ranging from a protest over high gas prices to encouraging his fans to go green. However, a spokesperson for the actor explained the polling place was close to his home and he just wanted to avoid traffic. Which is a good reason to ride just about anywhere. Including Los Angeles.

 

Competitive Cycling

More intrigue over the cyclist DQ’d for tossing a water bottle to fans during the Tour of Flanders, after Italian riders insist they were told that wouldn’t violate cycling’s new anti-littering rules.

American cyclist Kyle Murphy became the latest rider to be DQ’d for littering after accidentally dropping an empty gel pack trying to put it back in his pocket.

 

Finally…

Trying to smash into a police station with a bike rack may not be the best use for it — especially when you’re already on probation. That feeling when you’ve just got to have that $1,000 handcrafted pulley cage for your bike.

And who knew that “fucking Beatles fan!” was an insult?

Let alone for a bike rider?

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

LA media belatedly reports death of 80-year old NB bike rider, fed rules favor cars over people, and ride for Woon this Sat.

April 6, 2021 / / Comments Off on LA media belatedly reports death of 80-year old NB bike rider, fed rules favor cars over people, and ride for Woon this Sat.

Maybe they should try reading BikinginLA first.

Or working weekends, anyway.

Last week, we reported on the tragic death of 80-year old Ernest Adams, who lost his life a day after he was run down by an allegedly intoxicated driver while riding his bike in Newport Beach.

No other media outlets reported his death at the time, other than a local Newport Beach blog.

That changed Monday, when a number of LA-area news outlets breathlessly reported that the Orange County Coroner had released the name of the 80-year old victim of the crash.

Except the coroner had posted Adam’s name online last Wednesday — the same day Tom Johnson’s Stu News Newport reported on his death, as well as the arrest of the 20-year old driver.

But maybe those other media outlets don’t have this site’s network of loyal readers to keep them on top of the latest news.

So we can do the same for you.

Thanks again to Bill Sellin and Lois for the heads-up, and giving us a nearly full week head start on nearly everyone else.

We’ll do our best to stay on top of the story, long after the rest have forgotten it.

And by we, I mean me.

And a year-old corgi who needs to start pulling her weight around here.

………

Nice to see NACTO gets it.

As their tweet suggests, current federal rules require 100 people per day to cross an intersection before a crossing signal can go in.

Except many people won’t cross dangerous intersections precisely because they don’t have signals.

Chicken, meet egg.

It’s long past time to rewrite the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, aka MUTCD, to eliminate such dangerously ridiculous requirements.

And the Federal Highway Administration needs to hear from us — all of us — that people matter more than cars.

………

Streetsblog’s weekly listing of livable streets-related events includes this notation about a walk/ride to honor Frederick “Woon” Frazier this Saturday; Woon’s alleged killer has yet to face justice for the hit-and-run that took his life.

Saturday 4/10 – On this date in 2018, 22-year-old Frederick “Woon” Frazier was killed in a horrific hit-and-run at Manchester and Normandie. Though the driver was ultimately apprehended, the case is still making its way through the court system. In the meanwhile, little has changed in the way of safety in that area; cars seem to be driving faster than ever along both busy corridors. To continue to push for both justice and safer streets, friends and family ask you to join them on a bike/walk for justice in honor of his memory. Meet up at 51st and Harvard at 11 a.m.

………

Sarcasm is a powerful tool.

Although there’s always a few tools who don’t get it.

Although this is just a truncated version of the Onion’s cartoon. So be sure to click through to get the full effect.

………

GCN wants you to take better care of your bike tools.

………

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

Nice guy. Portland, Oregon police busted a man who shot paintballs at a passing bike rider, then threatened park rangers with an ax.

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

Tallahassee police are looking for a would-be thief who rode his bike up to a bank patron using an ATM, then shot him in a botched robbery attempt; the victim was hospitalized in serious condition.

………

Local

LA County Sheriff’s deputies report two men were killed in separate collisions around on PCH near Busch Drive in Malibu, at 10:35 pm Sunday. However, it’s possible that one or both of the victims may have been riding bikes.

 

State

Huntington Beach considers allowing ebikes on the beachfront bike path.

Sad news from San Jose, where a man was killed when he was run down by a motorist while riding his bike across the street; police stress that he was “outside of a marked crosswalk” when he was killed. Never mind that bike riders are neither required nor expected to use a crosswalk — and often blamed when they do.

 

National

Grist credits investments in bicycling infrastructure during the pandemic for the surge in ridership.

Forbes says ebikes are the growing choice for summer transportation.

No surprise here, as my bike-friendly hometown is one of Colorado’s top ebike adaptors.

A second-generation Vietnamese-American woman explains how bicycles are a tool for upward mobility, while addressing the anti-Asian racism she experiences riding in Denver.

The Houston Chronicle says the new bike plan for the city’s East End is every bicyclist’s dream, adding a total of 50 miles of bike lanes connecting the community.

Howard Hughes was one of us as a kid, building his own motorized bicycle as a 12-year old growing up in Texas.

A Chicago broadcaster looks back at the history of bicycling in the city, and the city’s role in it.

An op-ed in the New York Daily News makes the case for legalizing jaywalking; a bill under consideration in California would do exactly that.

A report from the New York mayor’s office says the pandemic was a disaster for Vision Zero.

A Pennsylvania man got a well-deserved one to nine years behind bars for a hit-and-run crash while driving with a suspended license, which critically injured a toddler being pulled behind her mother’s bicycle; the judge wisely added a request not to release him after serving the minimum sentence.

 

International

Mountain bikers in Windsor, Ontario are engaged in an ongoing battle with the city, which rudely insists on removing the DIY jump tracks they keep rebuilding.

An Ontario, Canada lawyer says the province needs to go back to the drawing board and clarify the new regulations for ped-assist cargo bikes, which are needlessly vague and confusing.

Cycling Weekly looks back over a hundred years to legendary Black cyclist Major Taylor’s journey to London; Taylor repeatedly won despite the racism and discrimination he faced.

Jason Statham is one of us, going for a London tandem ebike ride with his actress-model fiancé. And yes, the bike has pedals, even if it looks more like an e-motorcycle.

A British photographer spent his pandemic lockdown taking some remarkably evocative self-portraits riding through the English countryside.

Inspired by legendary bike-riding women, a woman from the UK defies convention by continuing to ride through France during her pregnancy.

Smart bikeshare is booming in Nigeria’s Oyo State.

Singapore bike riders will be required to pass a theory test before they’re allowed to ride a ped-assist bicycle, under proposed amendments being considered in the parliament.

 

Competitive Cycling

Native Frenchman and former French road cycling champion Nacer Bouhanni hits back against racist online comments since he was DQ’d for bodychecking British cyclist Jake Stewart in last week’s Cholet-Pays de Loire. Seriously, he may ride like a jerk, but there’s no excuse for that crap. Ever.

 

Finally…

A bicycle for people with far more dollars than sense. Don’t blame motorists for driving on a bike trail, they’re just confused and misunderstood.

And I love this, which translates to “Long live freedom on wheels.”

Amen to that.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

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

Snopes says Pete really did ride, witness looks for victim in Venice hit-and-run, and NIMBYs gear up to fight 4th Street again

April 5, 2021 / / One comment

Yes, he really did ride to the cabinet meeting.

NBC reveals an ability to read the room, noting that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is winning fans just by riding a bicycle and talking with the public.

But needless to say, conservative media had a completely different take on the former Mayor Pete’s recent ride to a cabinet meeting.

However, even Snopes got involved to confirm it wasn’t staged, despite their accusations.

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Once again, we have a witness looking for the victim of a possible hit-and-run last week.

This time, on Abbot Kinney in Venice.

This is what the Reddit post has to say.

If you are the cyclist who was hit by a white BMW today at Abbot Kinney and Westminster, I have a photo of the plate.

You had just fallen off your bike when I approached the intersection so I didn’t see the incident, but based on the way you and a couple of other folks gestured towards the car, it seemed like that driver may have hit you and run.

The car turned in front of me from Westminster onto Abbot Kinney and I snapped a photo once we came to a stop down the road.

I can send it to you if you like.

Update: Thanks for the advice, I called it in to LAPD. They didn’t have an incident report for the time/location but they will share the information with the traffic cops in that area in case anything comes up with that vehicle description.

If you were the victim, or know someone who was, click on the link about and reply to the original post, since they didn’t leave contact information.

And always report a hit-and-run to the police, even if you aren’t seriously injured.

You never know who else they might do it to next time.

Thanks to Bean and David Wolfberg for the heads-up.

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Keith Johnson forwards news of what could be yet another contentious public meeting in Hancock Park, as local residents continue to fight changes that would improve safety for bike riders on 4th Street.

Even though the improvements would benefit their neighborhood, as well. Whether or not they ride a bike.

  • Neighborhood Traffic Changes!  Hancock Park and Windsor Sq. will host a Transportation Town Hall on April 14, at 6:00 PM. We expect the LA Department of Transportation to explain their reasoning behind their recently posted survey regarding Bike Lights and Restricted Turns on 4th Street at Highland and Rossmore.  Make your voice heard! AGAIN!  Join the meeting at this Zoom link.
    https://zoom.us/j/96677001434

Local residents have a long history of fighting what was once called the 4th Street Bike Boulevard, over mistaken fears of increased traffic and difficulty of emergency vehicles getting through.

The reality is that the changes would eliminate cut-through traffic, while allowing continued emergency access.

And likely increase property values, too.

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Pasadena is looking for input on safety improvements for the segment of North Lake Ave directly above the 210 Freeway, which can certainly use it.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the tip.

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Leimert Park talks electric mobility, including ebikes, on Thursday.

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Nice to see some overdue attention to a long marginalized segment of the bicycling community.

I’ve heard far too many tales of people size shamed at their local bike shop or by other riders.

And here’s that short film in case you missed it.

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Here’s the video of a Vancouver man using his bicycle to attack an obnoxious anti-masker we mentioned last week.

Thanks to Tim Rutt for the tip.

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The aforementioned Megan Lynch forwards a photo of Burbank cops teaching bike safety from 1957.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1378229991645712384

Check out that nifty mixte in the background, which would have been considered a girl’s bike back in the day. 

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Ebikes to the rescue!

No, literally.

But don’t bother clicking the link unless you can read Dutch.

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

A New York restaurant owner installed his own DIY speed bumps on the protected bike lane next to his in-street outdoor seating; fortunately, the city ordered them removed before he killed someone.

A Scottish woman was pelted with rocks, bottles and other items by a group of teen boys as she rode beneath the wall they were standing on, then was drenched with a soft drink when she stopped to call police.

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

Las Gatos police are looking for the racist bike rider who shoved a 40-year-old Filipina medical worker to the ground without warning as she walked along a sidewalk, then shouted “Go back to (expletive) China.” Seriously, there’s no excuse for that. Ever. And not just mistaking someone from the Philippines for a person from China. 

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Local

The Los Angeles City Council will consider resolutions in support of state legislation allowing bicyclists to treat stops as yields, and state and federal bills to provide up to $1,500 in ebike tax credits at Tuesday’s virtual council meeting.

Streetsblog recaps Metro’s presentation of current plans for a more walkable, bikeable and livable, transit-oriented Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock; as usual, opponents try to paint supporters as not having a real stake in the community.

Metro is hosting an online class on how to clean your bike Wednesday evening. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the link.

Singer Chris Brown’s seven-year old daughter is one of us, as she goes for an unsteady barefoot bike ride in Los Angeles.

 

State

A 71-year old man suffered serious injuries when he was struck by a cowardly hit-and-run driver while riding his bike in San Marcos Thursday evening.

Fresno police are looking for a bike thief who used a slingshot to bust out a car window, then reached inside to grab the garage remote and make off with a bicycle.

A new Santa Cruz county supervisor booted two members off the county Bicycle Advisory Committee, replacing them with his own candidates.

Speaking of Santa Cruz, a Texas letter writer makes a poignant plea for a proposed bike trail, noting his brother was killed crashing his ebike into a median, on a street he wouldn’t have been riding if that Santa Cruz trail had been built.

East Bay bicyclists are complaining about armed robbers who are lying in wait to steal bikes from unsuspecting riders in the hills around Oakland and Berkeley.

 

National

NPR takes a look at the bike theft epidemic and what you can do about it; the story also notes that over half a million bikes are now registered with Bike Index.

A writer for Wired is no fan of a three-wheeled e-cargo bike from Bunch, calling it awkward, graceless and uncomfortable, even though her husband insists on liking it.

A car website wonders if an ebike tax credit would be enough to get your out of your car.

This is who we share the road with. A Portland man faces a hate crime charge, as well as attempted assault, reckless driving and unlawful use of a weapon charges, for attempting to run down another driver after yelling a racist slur, in what may or may not have started as a road rage incident.

Now bike thieves aren’t even waiting for new bikes to hit the market before stealing them, as someone stole a one-of-a-kind pre-production Canfield mountain bike from the back of a vehicle in Salt Lake City.

Family and friends of a San Antonio, Texas man are still waiting for justice, two years after he was run down by a drunk driver while riding his bike.

Transgender cyclocross legend Molly Cameron says cyclists need to take a strong stand against recently passed anti-trans legislation in Arkansas; the state is slated to host a ‘cross World Cup event this October, and the cyclocross world championships the following year. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

Kindhearted community members in upstate New York pitched in to buy a 14-year old autistic boy a new, customized three-wheeled bike — complete with his name embossed on the rear basket — after his stolen bike was recovered in an unrideable condition.

A Maryland paper reports distracted drivers killed nine people every day in the US in 2019. Far too many of those victims are the ones who aren’t wrapped in a couple tons of glass and steel.

In Florida, drivers don’t even have to be alive to hurt a bike rider. A speeding driver was killed after losing control and smashing into a tree; the car then careened on to hit someone riding a bike, who had to be flown for emergency care.

 

International

Cycling Weekly suggests eleven ways to give your faithful bicycle that new bike feeling. Without, you know, re-adjusting it so nothing fits quite right.

Road.cc offers tips for Brits on how to buy a new bike this year, despite the bicycle shortage driven by the pandemic bike boom.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an autistic English boy’s bicycle as he was delivering newspapers; the victim was dedicated enough to finish his route on foot.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a British man’s bike after he was rushed to the hospital after getting hit by a driver.

Irish thieves are using axel grinders, muggings and home break-ins to fuel a surge in stolen bikes; police warn people not to take matters into their own hands if they spot their stolen bike for sale online.

A Malaysian newspaper looks at the coming digital trends in bicycling.

 

Competitive Cycling

Danish cyclist Kasper Asgreen won his first Tour of Flanders on Sunday, with a perfectly timed attack to overtake leader Mathieu Van der Poel with about 800 feet to go.

Twenty-eight-year-old Annemiek van Vleuten won the women’s Tour of Flanders, ten years after the Dutch rider claimed her first Flanders title at 18.

Swiss cyclist Michael Schär became the first rider busted under UCI’s new prohibition on littering during Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. Which is an odd thing to call tossing a water bottle to fans lining the route.

Schär wasn’t the only rider to get the boot, though, as Astana’s Yevgeniy Fedorov and Alpecin-Fenix’s Otto Vergaerde were both DQ’d when Fedorov brake checked Vergaerde, who responded by slamming himself into Fedorov.

Cycling Weekly offers five talking points from the race.

French pro Nacer Bouhanni insists he’s not a thug after slamming Britain’s Jake Stewart into the barriers during a mad sprint to the finish at the one-day Cholet-Pays de la Loire last week, even though he faces a potential ban for dangerous sprinting. Is it just me, or does his “I’m not a thug!” sound a little too reminiscent of Nixon’s “I am not a crook!”?

 

Finally…

No, bike lanes aren’t supposed to be passing lanes, regardless of what some drivers seem to think; then again, bike trails aren’t for cars, either. Before sharing a bicycle ride with a fellow Bollywood star, make sure he knows how to ride one.

And that feeling when a headline typo cuts a little too close to the bone.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

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

Metro considers shifting highway funds to active transportation, and LA Walks calls for saving Encino bike/ped bridge

April 2, 2021 / / 3 comments

Metro wants to know what you think.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking for public input on a proposal that would divert funding currently earmarked for highways to support active transportation and Complete Streets projects.

Here’s how The Source, Metro’s in-house blog, explains it.

In June 2020, Metro’s Board of Directors directed staff to explore ways to modernize the agency’s Highway Program to better align it with policy goals of reducing vehicle miles traveled while exploring the expansion of eligible projects to include active transportation and “complete streets” improvements that focus on all forms of mobility rather than just vehicles.

The changes, if implemented, would open certain Measure R and Measure M funding that is now reserved only for traditional highway or roadway projects to new types of improvements. Those improvements include bikeways, sidewalk and pedestrian safety improvements, bus prioritization and explicitly using reductions in vehicle miles traveled as a criterion for planning and designing projects.

The plan, which has already received input from local governments, has been split into two sections, here and here.

Email your comments to MMGuidelines@metro.net, or snail mail them to:

LA Metro
One Gateway Plaza, M/S 99-23-3
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Attention: MR MM Guidelines Revisions

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Last week we learned about Caltrans plans to tear down an existing bike and pedestrian bridge over the 101 Freeway in Encino, while breaking their promise to replace it with a new and improved version.

Now an email from Los Angeles Walks is calling on them to reverse a bad decision.

Last week, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced their intention to permanently remove and not replace a pedestrian bridge connecting communities divided by the 101 Freeway.

While Caltrans suggested other alternatives for pedestrians, such as traffic signals and crosswalks, the removal of this bridge significantly limits the mobility of those walking or rolling. Currently, the Encino Ave. Pedestrian Bridge is located in at the intersection of Encino Ave. and Killion St (see arrow).

If removed, this reduces the number of options for residents in the area to cross the 101 freeway and places at risk a similar bridge on Amestoy Ave. about half a mile to the east. With both bridges gone local Angenelos would need to walk up to 2 miles to cross the 101 at White Oak Ave. or Balboa Blvd. Or they’ll have to walk up Louise Ave., a four lane road with scant pedestrian signage and infrastructure.

This bridge provides easy and safe access for those walking or rolling to go between the neighborhood and Burbank Ave., where you’ll find grocery stores, a pre-school, businesses, and other important community assets.

In 2019 alone, these local roads (displayed on the map) saw nearly 50 collisions. That same year the community experienced a horrific street racing crash along Burbank Blvd. that killed a 19 and 25 year old. If LA City is dedicated to its #VisionZero commitment (to reach 0 traffic deaths by 2025), tearing down a community-connecting pedestrian bridge over one of City’s largest and busiest freeways is the wrong way to go.

Our call to Action! 🚨

Let Caltrans know that the community, our seniors, our students need their pedestrian bridge. And we’ve made it easy for you!

Email Caltrans Now!

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This is no April fools joke, as a new study shows popup bike lanes really do increase bicycling rates.

This is what the New York Times had to say.

The research, published online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that in cities where bike infrastructure was added, cycling had increased up to 48 percent more than in cities that did not add bike lanes.

Dense cities where public transit was already popular generally saw the largest increases. In cities with lower density, more cars per capita and higher traffic speeds, the increase in cycling was more modest. Paris, which implemented its bike lane program early and had the largest pop-up bike lane program of any of the cities in the study, had one of the largest increases in riders.

“It almost seems like a natural law that the more infrastructure you have, the more cycling you will have,” said Sebastian Kraus, the study’s lead author.

The increases held up even after taking weather and changes in public transit supply and demand into account.

Then there was this.

Bicycles, unlike cars, do not emit greenhouse gases. Matthew Raifman, a doctoral student in environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health, found in a separate study that investments in infrastructure for cycling and walking more than paid for themselves once the health benefits were taken into account.

“They increase our physical activity and reduce levels of greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality, which all have impacts on health,” Mr. Raifman said.

Which is about as good an argument for transferring Metro highway funds to healthier and more efficient uses as you could make.

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The former Mayor Pete could have ridden in a chauffeured limo to his first cabinet meeting as US Transportation Secretary.

If he chose to ride a bike, it was to send a message.

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

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Betty White was one of us.

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

Cycliq shared a pair of punishment passes, as a truck driver passes safely once, then dipped into a bike lane to apparently send a frightening message. And a driver on a country road can’t be bothered to slow down literally for a second or two so a car coming in the opposite direction can pass, and takes it out on the person on the bike, instead.

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

This one fits in both categories, as a Hermosa Beach letter writer calls on the city to remove the “silly” sharrows on Hermosa Ave, after someone on a bicycle hit his son while he was crossing the street. Seriously, slow the hell down and ride carefully around pedestrians, especially kids. But just wait until someone tells this guy about cars. And don’t get me started on sharrows, which exist primarily to help drivers improve their aim. 

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Local

Bike Talk posted the lengthy public comment portion of last night’s meeting to discuss remaking Eagle Rock’s Colorado Blvd to support the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit line. And hopefully, make it a lot more livable and less car-centric.

Metro Bike’s ebikes will be free to unlock this month, although standard rates will apply after that.

 

State

The San Diego Bike Coalition is in the midst of a semi-virtual Pedal With Your Peeps scavenger hunt, including a self-guided tour with peep stops tomorrow. Thanks to Robert Leone for the link.

Berkeley bike riders are being victimized by armed robbers who steal their bicycles while riding in the East Bay Hills; at least three people have been bike-jacked in the last week.

 

National

A writer for Electrek goes offroad riding on the $1099 RadMission ebike, and rates it “great.”

A Honolulu woman was the victim of a strange strong arm robbery when another woman repeatedly whacked her with a skateboard before making off with her bike — then bizarrely brought it back and walked away.

The rich get richer. Oregon bike riders will soon enjoy the benefits of a new $11.3 million program to build offroad bikeways around the the state. Much missed former SCAG Active Transportation Planner Alan Thompson heads the ambitious project.

A ghost bike for the five Las Vegas bicyclists killed by a meth-using truck driver was moved to a public school in downtown Summerlin; the plan is to rotate the memorial to different locations in the city raise awareness.

Colorado’s Tourism Office explains how to build a route through the high country wilderness by threading together by a series of scenic and historic byways. All of which are even better by bicycle. And say hi to my old stomping grounds on the Cache la Poudre River while you’re at it.

An Ohio girl became a published author while still in kindergarten, penning Bug on a Bike after getting inspired while riding with her father.

Streetsblog says yes, it’s illegal to ride your bike after smoking weed in New York, which just passed a bill legalizing recreational use. But not that illegal, since the state doesn’t have a specific statute banning biking under the influence, unlike California.

A series of weekend popup shops will bring high-end bike brands to New York that aren’t normally available in the US, including brands from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Australia and Italy. Someone needs to do this in Los Angeles, too.

An unlicensed driver living in the country illegally will serve up to 12 years behind bars for killing a Pennsylvania bike rider, then face deportation once he gets out. Although he couldn’t legally get a license in Pennsylvania, because he was in the country illegally.

 

International

Pink Bike collects the highlights of yesterday’s bike-related April fools pranks. I did kinda like the homeopathic mountain bike first aid kit.

Popular Science offers advice on how to get a bike during the worldwide bike shortage brought on by the pandemic-driven bike boom.

Cyclist examines the inside story of the perfect storm that resulted in an industry wide bike shortage.

A new report from Britain’s largest bike retailer suggests the bike boom is poised to continue post-pandemic.

No bias here. A London paper freaks out over a reality star’s video message encouraging people to get outside, recorded as he rode his bike “in the middle of the road.” Although they do approve of his helmet and uh, “bulging muscles.”

A UK website offers a head-to-pavement guide to gear for bike touring.

This one’s going on my own bike bucket list. A trio of British groups has developed a 2,000-mile bicycling route connecting all 42 Church of England cathedrals in England and Wales.

India’s abrupt lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic forced millions of people to walk, bike or hitchhike back to their hometowns; for many, life may never be the same.

 

Competitive Cycling

Both the men’s and women’s Paris-Roubaix races have been postponed until October due to the pandemic.

VeloNews examines the technical aspects of how Irish cyclist Ronan McLaughlin became the latest in a long line of recent Everesting record holders, with a time of 6 hours, 40 minutes and 54 seconds, in part by focusing on shaving time on the descents; the solo attempt involves making multiple uphill climbs equivalent to the height of Mt. Everest.

 

Finally…

Fixing flats with a water bottle. Offroad Viking biking on an Alaskan glacier.

And striking a blow for bike equality by riding up to the drive-through window to rob a bank.

Although maybe he should have picked one where they didn’t already know him.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

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

$20 billion for bikes in Biden Transpo bill, “Beautiful” Eagle Rock BRT meeting tonight, and comic artist on Bike Talk

April 1, 2021 / / Comments Off on $20 billion for bikes in Biden Transpo bill, “Beautiful” Eagle Rock BRT meeting tonight, and comic artist on Bike Talk

I’m doing my best to keep this an April fools-free zone today.

Which means I’m not going to play any tricks on you, and I’ll do my best not to link to any. So if anything slips through, let me know.

As always, I want you to be able to trust whatever you may see here. 

Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels.

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Now that’s more like it.

The Guardian reports President Biden’s new $2 trillion infrastructure plan will include much needed funding for bikes.

Protect cyclists and pedestrians: Bikes, too, would get a share of the billions. The package includes $20 billion for safety – including funds to ‘reduce crashes and fatalities, especially for cyclists and pedestrians.’

That’s in addition to funding for transit to cut traffic congestion and reduce the number of cars on the road.

Let’s hope the bike funding — and the bill itself — survives what promises to be a brutal congressional process.

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Tonight is the last scheduled virtual public meeting to weigh in on the Beautiful Blvd plan for Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock.

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Now this should be a fun conversation.

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Here’s your chance to work in advocacy on the east side of the Bay Area.

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No bias here.

When a Pennsylvania buggy gets right hooked by a truck driver, the state police blame the buggy driver for somehow riding into the truck’s blind spot and crashing into the truck.

Sure, let’s go with that.

Evidently, those Amish buggies must really haul ass to undertake a truck driver.

Never mind that the horse, which somehow wasn’t involved in the crash, would have been the first thing to strike the truck in that bizarro scenario.

Thanks to Mike Bike for the heads-up.

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I couldn’t get the video to load, but maybe you’ll have better luck than I did.

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Hello, Wilshire Blvd? Hello?

This is what we could be doing in Los Angeles.

And what we’ll have to do if we want to reduce the city’s crippling addiction to motor vehicles, let alone make a dent in our massive contribution to climate change.

But we’re not.

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

A Michigan man faces up to ten years behind bars after pleading guilty to beating a Black teenager with a chain bicycle lock, just because of his race. Seriously, there’s not a pit deep enough for someone like that. And no, there’s no guarantee that he rides a bike; he could have just used the chain lock for something else. But still. 

Teenage bike riders swarmed and pummeled a man to stop him from heckling people on Miami Beach; one boy was arrested and could face charges.

A Vancouver man faces charges for attacking a truck passenger participating in an anti-mask rally with his bicycle.

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Local

No news is good news, right?

 

State

San Jose-area drivers somehow find it impossible to believe that a distracted driver seriously injured a bike rider, concluding that the guy on the bike had to be at fault. Evidently, they’ve never watched someone try to drive while using a handheld phone. Other than themselves, of course.

 

National

Outside’s Joe Lindsey offers advice on how to ensure your bike is ready for riding this spring. Although for those of us in Southern California, the easiest way to make sure you’re ready for spring is to keep riding all winter.

Bicycling offers advice on how women riders can avoid seat pain and saddle sores, along with other common problems.

A reviewer for Gear Junkie discovers he’s become a bike snob, after doing his best to hate Cannondale’s new ebike, and failing.

Wired recommends everything you need for an epic bikepacking trip.

Call it a national park ciclovía. For the next two weeks, Yellowstone NP will be open to people on bicycles before it opens to drivers on the 16th.

The residents of a tiny Arkansas town remember a man they called Bicycle Charley, known by all after 50 years of selling the local paper from a trailer towed behind his bicycle.

Three kindhearted Oklahoma cops dug into their own pockets to replace a kid’s bike when it from stolen from an elementary school, taking car to replace it with the same make and model he had before.

A Cincinatti man copped a plea for the hit-and-run death of a prominent attorney as the lawyer rode his bike last year; he now faces up to 11 years behind bars after pleading to vehicular homicide and fleeing the scene of a crash.

A 25-year old Brooklyn woman eases her pandemic lockdown anxiety by learning to ride a bike for the first time.

A new video of New York’s First Avenue bike lane shows the people on two wheels are going to need more space, as cars barely outnumber bikes on the street.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, ER doctors were forced to confront the daily toll of traffic-related injuries and deaths; a New York physician says enough!

A Philadelphia man will face a murder charge after turning himself in for fatally shooting an 11-year old boy, and injuring the 14-year old boy he was riding with.

Tragic news from Florida where a man was killed just minutes after getting tossed out of a rail yard, when he tried to cross under a stopped train car with his bicycle.

 

International

Road.cc recommends their favorite bicycle wheels of 2021, with prices starting at the equivalent of a surprisingly low $344. Although prices are given British pounds, so cost and availability may vary.

If your main concern is looking cute on your bicycle, Yahoo has the bikes for you.

An 18-year old man was convicted of ramming an 18-year old London bike rider with his car, then getting out and repeatedly stabbing him in a brutal attack.

British motorists decide a spiral intersection design intended to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians by eliminating right-of-way is just too damn confusing.

An op-ed in an Irish paper says transportation is too often considered gender neutral, but active transportation plans must take differing needs of “women, children, the elderly, those with a disability and different ethnic minorities” into account.

The bike boom has hit the Philippines, as bike riders take to the streets while confronting government efforts to restrict riders.

Surprisingly, a British man got his bike back two years after it was stolen in an Australian town, when he was 102 days into a record-setting attempt to be the youngest person to ride solo across the world; he was literally left with just the clothes on his back after everything else was taken. A 46-year old man faces charges after being caught riding the stolen bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

A Paralympic cyclist is using her platform to be a voice for others, after discovering adaptive bicycles could be modified to meet the needs of differently abled bike riders. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

 

Finally…

Bad enough if you’re going to steal a bicycle, but don’t shoot a police dog when they come for you; thankfully, he’s recovering — the dog, not the jerk who shot him. That feeling when you suffer fatal injuries riding BMX, but just won’t die.

And a Houston man learns the hard way that riding a bike on the freeway is illegal — and the cop behind him wasn’t giving him a police escort.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM5WjpMHbLZ/?utm_source=ig_embed

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Thanks to Matthew R for his generous donation to help keep SoCal’s best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day; donations of any size are always appreciated. 

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

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