Tag Archive for Los Angeles

Two teens killed in crash where Vista Del Mar road diet removed, and elderly driver plows through a dozen French school kids

June 6, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 208 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the city’s mean streets.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re up to 1,190 signatures, so don’t stop now! Let’s get it up to 1,200 before I send it to the mayor’s office!

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

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This is why people keep dying on our streets.

Back in 2019, a four-year old girl was tragically killed by a driver as she crossed the street in Koreatown, while holding hands with her mother.

In a crosswalk. With the light.

Alessa Fajardo and her mom did everything right as they crossed Olympic at Normandie that October day, yet she died anyway. Even though Los Angeles officials knew long before about the dangers of that area and intersection.

In fact, the school they were going to was ranked the city’s 13th most dangerous campus just six years earlier, while Koreatown as a whole was rated LA’s fourth most dangerous neighborhood for bike riders and pedestrians.

That’s pedestrians, like little kids crossing the street with their mothers.

It took four-and-a-half years, and a $9.6 million dollar settlement before anything was done about it.

Los Angeles Times reporter Ryan Fonseca took a deep dive into why.

Starting with the problem of each city councilmember acting like little kings in their own districts, responsible for identifying and approving any improvements before they are made.

Or not.

Neither former District 10 Councilmember Herb Wesson, who represented the district when Alessa was killed, nor his successor, Mark Ridley-Thomas, secured that funding. Ridley-Thomas was indicted on federal corruption charges, suspended from the council and later convicted and removed from his seat in late March 2022. Nobody represented the district until Heather Hutt was appointed that September.

Hutt identified and allocated $530,000 for the new signals in June 2023, but the installation work did not begin until April 2024, four months after the family’s suit against the city was settled.

District 10 staff would not comment on the record about why they could not secure the funds in 2020, 2021, 2022 and early 2023.

No surprise there.

Then again, even on the rare occasions when councilmembers really do try to do something, angry motorists too often rush for their torches and pitchforks — and threats of recall elections.

Tuesday night, two teenagers were killed, and three people seriously injured, in a head-on collision on Vista Del Mar in Playa del Rey.

And if that sounds familiar, it should.

Two years before little Alessa was killed in Koreatown, the city agreed to another $9.6 million settlement, this time with the family of a 16-year old girl killed crossing — wait for it — Vista Del Mar to get to her car after leaving Dockweiler Beach.

The same beach where the kids were killed on Tuesday.

Then-CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin responded by ordering long-delayed safety improvements on Vista Del Mar, and a handful of other streets in Playa del Rey. Both because too many lives had already been lost on the deadly roadway, and because the next settlement, for the next inevitable death, would be exponentially higher.

Yet the resulting lane reductions and bike lanes were unceremoniously ripped out weeks later on the orders of then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, after angry residents and pass-through drivers from Manhattan Beach rose up in anger — aided by angry rants from conservative KFI shock jocks John and Ken.

Hence that failed recall, as well as a lawsuit from anti-urbanist group Fix the City.

It only took another four years before there was blood on Garcetti’s hands, and all those who chose their own convenience over the lives of others.

Now just three years after that, two more people have needlessly lost their lives on that same bloody stretch of road. And despite a breathless report from Fox-11, police reports said there was no indication either driver was under the influence.

Never mind that the settlement for this one will likely be exponentially higher than the last one, since Los Angeles installed, then removed, safety improvements that might have prevented it.

Yet despite at least four deaths on the same section of roadway in just nine years, some people still seem to think they should have the unfettered, God-given right to go zoom zoom whenever and wherever they want, innocent lives be damned.

If you want to know why we can’t manage to do anything about the ever-rising rate of needless deaths on our streets, that’s it.

And it would be nice if our current mayor and council would somehow show they actually gave a damn, since the previous ones clearly didn’t.

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Once again, a car was a weapon of mass destruction, when an elderly driver plowed through a group of 12 schoolchildren at a French resort.

Three of the kids were critically injured when the 83-year old driver hit them head-on as they rode single file, leaving the children screaming in terror and pain amid their mangled bikes.

She was arrested at the scene, then released and taken to a hospital after police concluded she wasn’t in a “fit state” for questioning.

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Speaking of deadly roadways, here’s your chance to fight for bike lanes on PCH in Long Beach.

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No surprise that a town known for wealthy, entitled NIMBYs would choose to prioritize their convenience over the lives of bike riders.

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Bike Culver City offers a full schedule of bike events this month, including a screening of mobility justice leader Yolanda Davis-Overstreet two short film docuseries on Biking While Black on the 13th.

https://twitter.com/BikeCulverCity/status/1798102948452651350

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It’s now 168 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

For a change, though, California wasn’t the only state whose competency was question, after Minnesota’s planned ebike rebate program was called off for now when the website crashed within minutes of launching.

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

Police in Surrey, England released video of a violent attack on a bike rider, who was knocked off his bike by two “masked thugs” on a motorbike while riding on a bike path.

One of the UK’s leading young women’s cyclists is out of this year’s Tour of Britain after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver; Kate Richardson was on a training ride when she was knocked off her bike by the impatient driver, who came back to verbally abuse her before driving off again.

 

A man in Cork, Ireland was irate after a driver pulled over directly in front of him in a bike lane to chat with a friend on the sidewalk, while he was riding uphill with two kids on his cargo bike.

Campaigning for the European Parliament, a Dublin, Ireland politician went on a “jaw dropping,” “reactionary” anti-bike lane rant, in which she compare them to a Berlin Wall dividing the city in two.

A bike rider in Brussels, Belgium is lucky to be alive after he was knocked off his bike by a driver who tried to pass him and his companion while driving in a clearly marked bike lane, then the enraged motorist got out and slashed the victim’s throat with a knife; the victim managed to escape with just six stitches when the driver barely missed his jugular.

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

A New York rabbi suffered a broken leg when he was struck by a rogue, salmon-riding hit-and-run ebiker as he was crossing a bike lane.

Residents of Glasgow, Scotland called for food delivery ebike riders to be required to wear identifiable numbers on their backs, as a result of a number of collisions and near misses. You know, sort of like prison inmates, but without having to be convicted of anything.

A couple of teen ebike riders naturally got the blame after they quarreled with a “crew of cranky elderly” Aussies — even though the reporter admitted he had no idea what the discussion was about or who caused it.

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Local 

Streets For All urges support for a proposed 28-mile The Hill to Sea transit corridor traversing 13 cities and unincorporated communities from Pasadena to Long Beach, which would “aggressively reduce car dependency by prioritizing high quality bus service, safe protected bike paths, and improved sidewalks for walking and businesses.”

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton asks what’s next for Measure HLA as Los Angeles continues to slow walk new bus and bike lanes.

Urbanize LA has more details on the planned Complete Streets makeover of Hollywood Blvd, with bike lanes scheduled to be on the ground next year.

Los Angeles is building more than four miles of bike and pedestrian corridors in South LA west of the USC campus.

Glendale is delaying a planned Complete Streets makeover of La Crescenta Ave to search for additional funding, after initial estimates came in over budget.

 

State

Orange County supervisors voted to crackdown on ebikes, including restrictions on sidewalk riding, imposing speed limits and reclassifying bikes that generate more than 750 watts through their motors — even though the latter two could put them in direct conflict with existing state law.

Police in Cathedral City released a description of the suspect vehicle in the hit-and-run death of a bike rider last month; they’re looking for a dark-colored 2014-2019 Nissan Versa with major front-end damage, as well as missing parts.

A 52-year old bike rider in Apple Valley was airlifted for treatment after suffering major injuries when the victim was rear-ended by a driver on Monday.

A Heyward man was sentenced to nine years behind bars after pleading no contest to vehicular manslaughter and hit and run in the death of a 52-year old man riding a bicycle while driving a stolen car.

 

National

CleanTechnica sings the praises of Bike Index for registering your bike, which you can do right here for free, for life.

Bloomberg talks with University of Colorado-Denver professor Wesley Marshall about his new book, Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System; he’s the one who did a study several years back showing drivers and bicyclists break the law at the same rate — but bike riders do it for perceived safety, while drivers do it for their convenience.

Colorado took a step forward by creating a dedicated $7 million funding stream for “proven small infrastructure projects that improve safety for vulnerable road users,” such as bike lanes, sidewalks and other pedestrian improvements. While that’s far too little — even for a relatively small state — it’s a hell of a lot more than most are willing to commit to.

A Tulsa, Oklahoma man faces charges after he led police on a chase while driving on a bike and pedestrian pathway.

Police in Missouri are continuing to look for the SUV driver who nearly hit a man riding his bike, causing him to fall over a guardrail and down an embankment, where he lay in pain yelling for help for 13 hours.

Lawmakers in Michigan want to increase the penalties for drivers who strike vulnerable road users, while tightening the rules for who is considered one.

Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev underwent successful surgery to repair an undisclosed issue resulting from an electric motorbike crash last week, as media sources continued to misidentify it as an ebike.

The Washington Post belatedly discovers bike buses can provide a viable alternative to the standard SUV school run.

Sad news from DC, where a 34-year old White House staffer was killed while riding his bike when he crossed the center line on a sharp curve during a fundraising ride, and was struck head-on by an oncoming motorist; Jacob Thomas Brewer was the husband of Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham.

 

International

Momentum explains why bicycles are the perfect vehicle for the 15-minute city, while offering policies to help your city go Dutch.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says forget talk about the “golden age” of bicycling, when there were ten times the number of bicyclists killed in the UK in 1950 compared to now.

A group of Queensland, Australia researchers consider what can be done about the bad weather, hills and dark nights that keep people from bicycling, particularly women. Ebikes can easily flatten the hills, but can’t help with the dark or bad weather.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling reports the annual Red Bull Rampage freeride mountain bike competition will finally welcome women as something other than spectators. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

People Magazine wants to catch you up on what’s happening with America’s best-known ex-Tour de France winner. But fails to explain why anyone should give a damn. 

Huh? Twenty-five-year old Australian cyclist Robert Stannard received a four-year ban for “abnormalities” in his biological passport, with the ban backdated to 2018. Which is pretty much the same as no ban at all.

Former pro Peter Sagan takes the party on the water in a new beer ad.

 

Finally…

Why spend thousands on a gravel bike, when you can do the Gravel Unbound on a Walmart cruiser? Who the hell would steal a Penny Farthing?

And Hitch was one of us.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Silence marks World Bicycle Day in City of Angels, living carfree in LA, and what a real 3-foot passing violation looks like

June 4, 2024 / / Comments Off on Silence marks World Bicycle Day in City of Angels, living carfree in LA, and what a real 3-foot passing violation looks like
Just 210 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the city’s mean streets.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re up to 1,178 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll forward the petition to the mayor’s office in the next few days. So urge everyone you know to sign it now! 

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Yesterday was World Bicycle Day.

Or as it’s known here in Los Angeles, Monday.

While other cities around the world marked it to greater or lesser degrees, Los Angeles observed the day by ignoring it entirely.

There was no official proclamation from the mayor, who seems to have forgotten we exist, after claiming to be one of us when she needed our votes.

Ditto for the city council, which offers us only vague promises that they can ignore later.

The silence was just as deafening coming from county leaders, the governor and the state legislature.

But at least Bike Metro remembered.

Then again, my inbox wasn’t exactly full of messages from state and local advocacy organizations using the day as a springboard to call for safer streets, better infrastructure, and other steps to get more people on fewer wheels.

Let alone the urgent need to provide safe and efficient alternatives to driving, at a time when our world is literally burning.

Instead, World Bicycle Day was just another opportunity for our elected leaders to once again swipe left, and remind us all that they’re just not that into us.

Meanwhile, the India Times marked World Bicycle Day by ranking the world’s top six bicycle friendly cities, while another site listed their own top ten cities.

Portland, Oregon made both lists. And do I really need to say Los Angeles didn’t?

I didn’t think so.

https://twitter.com/UNESCO/status/1797669217195667616

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Thanks to Culver City-based multimedia producer and Loyola Marymount University Professor Emeritus Art Nomura for forwarding a couple non-commercial video series about the joys of going carfree.

The first, Carfree, Season 1, is described as a 12-part mini-documentary series released last year about the joys and challenges of living carfree, or carfree lite, in Southern California; Carfree, Season 2 is currently in production.

The second is Carfree Epiphany, a series of self-produced 30 second to two minute stories of how people have become and/or are becoming carfree. You’re invited to contribute your own video, with instructions on how to submit it included on the link.

I gave up driving several years ago. And don’t miss driving in this hot mess of a city one bit.

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Define “three-foot passing violation.”

Or at least it would be, if video evidence of misdemeanors and traffic violations counted for anything in California.

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Mexico’s new president-elect is one of us.

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It’s now 166 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, Minnesota becomes the latest state to offer non-vaporware ebike rebates up to $1,500 — just one year after it was approved by the legislature.

Proving just how quick and easy it can be when the people in charge actually give a damn, and don’t have their skulls firmly embedded between their buttocks.

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

Horrifying story from Missouri, where a man was found badly injured 13 hours after somehow surviving a 22-foot fall, after he had to jump off his bike and over a concrete barrier to avoid getting run down by a hit-and-run driver.

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

After three cygnets — aka baby swans — were killed along an English trail, suspicion immediately fell on reckless bicyclists, despite the lack of any actual evidence pointing in that direction. If bike riders were really responsible, there would have been feathers everywhere from the impact with the bike tires.

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Local 

Autoweek says last weekend’s Electrify Expo in Long Beach illustrates exactly who will be hurt by President Biden’s new tariffs on electric vehicles, e-bikes and e-scooters and components. Like the people who might otherwise buy them. And the ones who will have to pay through the nose to do it anyway.

An LA County judge rejected wealthy socialite Rebecca Grossman’s bid to have her conviction overturned for killing two little kids as they rode their skateboard and kick scooter across the street with their parents, citing her speeding and drinking that night, as well as a previous warning from police about the dangers of speeding.

 

State

The Voice of OC looks at Orange County’s efforts to catch up to the burgeoning use of ebikes in the county, and the panic over teens on fast, throttle-controlled ebikes that may be beyond their ability to control safely.

 

National

Strong Towns says sidewalks, bike paths and other public spaces where people can gather are key to building strong towns that are irresistible to tourists.

Sixty members of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity are preparing for the group’s annual cross-country ride to raise funds for programs to support people with disabilities.

Outside makes their picks for the very best gravel bikes available today.

Drivers in Anchorage, Alaska are up in arms after the city’s first protected bike lane and lane reduction appeared over the weekend, as the city struggles to maintain its reputation for being bike and pedestrian friendly.

Denver is removing the rubber bumpers from a protected bike lane in front of a condo building, after an 82-year old man tripped over one and broke his pelvis, leading to a series of falls — and eventually, his death.

Kansas Public Radio talks with LA-based author Peter Flax about his new book — Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle.

The New York Times examines the people responsible for the city’s ghost bikes, and the message they spread about the need to drive safely.

 

International

Forbes says your next vacation should be a self-guided bike tour.

Canadian Cycling Magazine insists Season 2 of The Tour de France: Unchained is even better than the first.

That’s more like it. Police in York, Ontario are using drones to catch drivers who pass too close to bike riders, and don’t give the newly required one meter passing distance — a little more than three feet.

A new study from a Canadian university shows that driver speeds really do go down when there’s a bike lane on the street.

A British driver is on trial for killing a 52-year old triathlete as she was competing in a time trial in 2022, plowing into her from behind despite clear visibility and an open lane to her left — and later telling police he had no memory of the crash, but admitting that he “must” have hit her. Which would seem kinda obvious under the circumstances. 

A new book argues that the Netherlands isn’t the bicycling paradise people think, and communities — even the ones filled with people on two wheels — should ask deeper questions about what their streets are really for. While the country may not be perfect, it’s still a hell of a lot better than pretty much anywhere here in the US. Especially LA. 

Meanwhile, three-quarters of Netherlands residents think using bike helmets is a good idea for ebike riders, even though hardly any actually do.

Over half the residents of Germany’s Hesse state listed building more bike lanes as one of their top priorities, in a state where one-third of the population ride bicycle a multiple times a week.

More proof of the power of bikes, as bicycling became a tool for liberating women in Karachi, Pakistan, after one woman started a girl’s bicycle club.

The general manager of a new Hyatt hotel offers his perspective on bicycling in Kolkata, formerly known to English speakers as Calcutta.

A writer for a Philippine website explains how New Zealand made him feel safe riding a bicycle, as the country does its best to protect active transportation users.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Brazil, where 42-year old cycling champ Lais Saes was killed in a hit-and-run while training with three other women on a dirt mountain road, when she was struck by the driver of a utility vehicle; it took more than an hour for help to arrive at the remote location.

 

Finally…

No, whacking an ebike worker over the head with a motorbike helmet isn’t actually what they were designed for. You can’t drive in the bike lane just because your car self-identifies as a bicycle.

And that feeling when the cops catch a hit-and-run driver because one of your AirPods fell into his car during the collision.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Happy World Bicycle Day, MOVE Culver City CEQA suit trial begins, and Bike Talk talks The Art of Cycling

June 3, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 211 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve jumped up to 1,173 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll forward the petition to the mayor’s office in the next few days. So urge everyone you know to sign it now! 

Photo by Ana Arantes from Pexels.

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Happy World Bicycle Day!

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Just a quick note before we get started. 

I’m finally starting to feel a little better, almost two months after falling and injuring my ribs and back, and re-injuring my shoulder. My ribs are almost back to normal, and my back is getting there. On the other hand, I think my torn rotator cuff is just screwed at this point.

Also, a very kind person reached out to me last week and offered to come over and help around our apartment — the second time that’s happened since my wife and I have both been injured, after another BikinginLA reader generously offered to come do our shopping for us. 

I won’t embarrass them by sharing their names, but I truly appreciate their offers of help. And the kindness and generosity of the readers of this site, which I see every year during our fund drive, and throughout the year. 

So my sincere thanks to both of these people, and everyone who has given from their heart to help keep this all going. 

And speaking of keeping the lights on, please take a moment to thank Pasadena bike lawyer and longtime bicycling supporter Thomas Forsyth for renewing his ad for another year. 

Thank you. 

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As you may know, I’ve been complaining for some time about Culver City’s regressive move to rip out the highly successful MOVE Culver City project.

Not only did they move quickly to remove the protected bus and bike lanes, combining them into a single shared lane, but they made the move without conducting the required environmental review.

A lawsuit contesting the removal without a CEQA review was filed in November, and will be heard Wednesday at the Los Angeles County Superior Court at 111 North Hill Street.

If you can make it, show up to show your support for the Friends and Families for MOVE Culver City, aka FFMCC, who filed the suit. And let me know what happens.

Here’s a press release from the group explaining the case.

Friends and Families for Move Culver City Invites Members of the Public to Attend the Hearing on June 5th for its Lawsuit Against City’s Planned Removal of Protected Bike Lanes and Pedestrian Protections from MOVE Culver City Project

Culver City, CA – Friends and Families for MOVE Culver City (FFMCC), a local advocacy group, invites members of the public to attend the hearing for its lawsuit to stop Culver City’s removal of critical infrastructure without proper California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review on June 5th at 1:30pm in Department 15 at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. The group first raised concerns and filed a lawsuit challenging the Culver City Council’s plans to remove key transportation upgrades in October 2023. The Culver City Council disregarded its own data, hundreds of public comments, letters and warnings from the community, elected officials, businesses, lawyers and environmental and mobility advocates when it first voted to begin the process of removing elements of its MOVE Culver City project in April 2023. Local advocates assert that the City Council’s approval of a CEQA exemption to these modifications is a violation of the law, as it would remove a protected bike lane and pedestrian features to accommodate an additional lane of vehicular traffic without disclosing, analyzing, or mitigating the impacts of those changes in an Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

Despite the warning, in January 2024, the Culver City Council voted to approve funding for a construction contract related to the removal of safety upgrades in the Move Culver City Corridor.

Following the vote, FFMCC filed a lawsuit in October 2023. A copy of the opening brief can be viewed here.

“We’re confident in the strength of our case and expect the judge to rule in our favor,” says Yotala Oszkay Febres-Cordero, Chair of Friends and Families for MOVE Culver City, the plaintiff in the case. “The city clearly violated CEQA by voting to exempt the project from environmental review, ignoring the indisputable fact that replacing a protected bike lane with an additional lane for cars, and removing pedestrian safety features, poses significant threats to public health and safety. This is precisely why CEQA was enacted, to provide notice to and protect communities when a planned project generates these environmental threats.” FFMCC is represented by attorneys Ellis Raskin, Jillian Ames, and Jenny Dao of Hanson Bridgett LLP.

In moving forward with this trial, FFMCC hopes to show the City that proper CEQA review pursuant to state law must be adhered to before any environmentally hostile modifications are made to the MOVE Culver City corridor.

About Friends and Families for Move Culver City

Friends and Families for Move Culver City was formed in response to the Culver City Council’s 3-2 vote to declare modifications to the MOVE Culver City project exempt from CEQA and to proceed with the removal of protected bike lanes, pedestrian protections and safety measures, and the addition of vehicle lanes along Washington Blvd and Culver Blvd in Culver City. Following the council vote on 9/11/2023, a GoFundMe was organized which raised more than $15,000 in less than two weeks, with nearly 200 donations from community members opposing the City’s plans.

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Bike Talk talks with the author of The Art of Cycling in this week’s episode, dropping on Thursday.

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The popular bike blogger known as Bike Shop Girl has created a new website focused on the cargo bike life.

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It’s now 165 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

An English bike rider suffered broken bones and a punctured lung when masked “thugs” on motorbikes pushed him off his bike while riding on a segregated bike lane, in what may or may not have been a bikejacking attempt.

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

Montreal saw a 20% jump in tickets issued to people on bicycles from 2022 to 2023. Which either means people are riding worse, or the cops are cracking down more.

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Local 

LAist explores the pushback on traffic safety efforts, as people fight to keep the roads dangerous and keep their God-given right to go zoom zoom all they want, damn the consequences.

Pasadena is already on the verge of being a 15-minute city.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an adaptive custom tricycle from a young Lawndale girl with a rare neurological disorder.

 

State

Calbike remembers the late, great Bill Walton.

A travel website selects seven surprisingly scenic and bikeable cities in California. Although they list Los Angeles at number six, just ahead of San Diego, which suggests they’ve never actually been here.

The annual AIDS/LifeCycle Ride is underway, with people from around the world riding 540 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles this week; the fundraising ride will end in LA this weekend.

Sad news from Fresno, where a 50-year old man was killed riding in the downtown area; police blamed the victim for making an unsafe turn.

A new Marin County bikeway is a downpayment on a long-planned north-south bikeway reaching across the entire county.

Bay Area bike riding is about to get safer, as work begins to install 22 bicycling turnouts on deadly Mt. Diablo. Then again, when you name a mountain after the devil, you’re tempting fate, anyway.

 

National

Momentum lists the best US bike routes to check out this summer.

Paramedics in Anchorage, Alaska gave a young girl a new bicycle after a “distressing” incident that left her impaled by the brake lever on her bicycle, threatening her femoral artery.

An Arizona man says he could have been killed after he was knocked off his bike by the wing mirror of a passing RV.

Tragic news from Colorado, where an eight-year old girl was chased down and killed by a raging moose as she rode her bike.

Life is cheap in Texas, where killing a kid riding his bicycle is just an “oopsie.”

A New York man was the victim of illegal parking, killed when he crashed his ebike into an unattended semi-truck and trailer double parked in the traffic lane.

The sitting President of the United States was sitting on a bike seat in Delaware this weekend as he went for a ride with his son, Hunter, who will go on trial this week on federal gun charges.

He gets it. A writer for the Palm Beach Post says bicyclists risk their lives to ride in West Palm Beach, and it’s time the city did something to protect them.

 

International

A new study shows making a habit of riding a bicycle can keep your knees young.

Canadian national newspaper The Globe and Mail patiently explains why it’s not a good idea to put bike lanes in the middle of the road. Something San Francisco probably should have read before the whole Valencia Street fiasco.

A ten-year old British girl was injured when some jackass threw a kid’s bike off a multi-story housing unit, hitting the child below.

Bollywood actress Rakul Preet Singh is one of us, as she shares her thoughts on biking in Mumbai for today’s World Bicycle Day.

The India Times profiles billionaire bike rider and software entrepreneur Sridhar Vembu.

Beijing, China is experiencing an ultra-cycling boom, but hopes for the country’s hydrogen-powered bikeshare bikes are rapidly deflating.

A group of Aussie professors, lecturers and researchers examine why so few of their countrymen and women ride bikes, and offer suggestions on how to get the country back on two wheels.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australia’s Lachlan Morton and Germany’s Rosa Maria Klöser won the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively, of America’s premier gravel race, the Life Time Unbound Gravel 200 in Kansas over the weekend. Read it on AOL this time if Bicycling blocks you. 

Morton won in a record time, despite making a wrong turn on the course.

A columnist for Cycling Weekly says it’s okay if pro cyclists hate cycling sometimes, because the rest of us have our ups and downs, too.

Tadej Pogačar’s agent proclaims post-ride beers are good for you.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your local bikeway has been around for 126 years. Your next graphene-reinforced bike lock could be axle-grinder resistant.

And who needs a bike seat when you can weld three chairs to your mamachari bike?

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Thanks to Cassandra Fulgham for her donation to help support this site — and possibly help defray that ambulance ride and ER visit. As you probably know by now, donations of an amount, no matter how large or small, are always welcome and appreciated, whatever the reason.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Beverly Hills backslides on bike safety, Rancho Palos Verdes considers bike ban, and a prop cash bike theft scammer

May 31, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 214 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve inched up to 1,151 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll forward the petition to the mayor’s office next week, after getting tied up with health issues this week. So urge everyone you know to sign it now! 

………

Beverly Hills is backsliding on their new found commitment to bike safety and Complete Streets.

The gilded city will rip out its only protected bike lane, on South Roxbury Drive next to Roxbury Park, because some drivers found the new parking configuration confusing and thought it reduced visibility when backing out of parking spaces.

Even though the city doesn’t seem to have done any actual studies to see whether it improved safety during the three years it was in place with no documented safety issues.

The planter-protected bike lane will be replaced with sharrows — even though protected bike lanes have been proven to improve safety for all road users, while sharrows have been shown to make things worse.

And never mind that the arrow in the sharrows symbol is just there to help drivers improve their aim.

………

Speaking of gilded cities, Jim Lyle forwards news that Rancho Palos Verdes is considering banning bicycles and motorcycles from Palos Verdes Drive South, due to the same shifting ground that forced the closure of the famed Wayfarer’s Chapel.

However, that could put the city in conflict with state law unless cars are also banned from the street, since since state law requires bicycles to be permitted anywhere motor vehicles are allowed, with the exception of limited access highways in urban areas.

On the other hand, the suggestion to voluntarily avoid the area is probably a good idea until the ground stops literally shifting beneath your wheels.

Dear Bike Community,

The City of Rancho Palos Verdes would like to inform the Bike Community that the City will be considering prohibiting bicycles and motorcycles on Palos Verdes Drive South (PVDS) and an agenda item is planned to go before the RPV City Council on June 18, 2024.

  • City staff and consultants are seeing rapid and substantial rates of movement (6 to 9 inches per week, depending on location) in and around the vicinity of the landslide area along Palos Verdes Drive South.
  • Despite the warning signs in place, we are seeing injuries.
  • Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking the City Council to consider prohibiting bicycles and motorcycles on PVDS.
  • We are requesting the Bike Community to voluntarily consider alternate routes.

Please let us know if you have comments and questions regarding the above bicycle and motorcycle prohibition proposal.

Please contact:

Ramzi Awwad

Director of Public Works

City of Rancho Palos Verdes

rawwad@rpvca.gov”

………

Police are looking for a con man who stole a Huntington Beach man’s electric bike, as well as victimizing several other people with similar scams.

The man poses as a prospective buyer for expensive ebikes advertised on on Facebook Marketplace and other online platforms, and shows up with cash in hand for a test ride.

But only after leaving with the bike do the victims discover the envelope full of money he left behind as a deposit is just counterfeit prop money for intended for film shoots, and marked “For motion picture purposes only” in small fine print.

In this case, the Huntington Beach victim was scammed out of $4,200.

There’s no word on how many other people have been conned, or the value to the bikes he’s stolen. However, after reporting the crime, the victim heard from several other people claiming they had also been victimized in similar scams, including in Redondo Beach and Escondido.

So watch out if you’re selling an ebike — or any other high-end bike — through an online marketplace.

………

This protected bike lane on 7th Street in DTLA was agreed to as part of the approval process for the Wilshire Grand Center.

And it only took 14 very long years after the project got the green light.

………

This is who we share the road with.

………

Anyone?

………

GCN suggests five reasons people don’t bike to work and 13 suggestions to overcome them.

………

It’s now 162 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. El Paso police blame the victim, saying a 76-year old man died ten days after striking a car on his bike when the 22-year old driver pulled out in front of him while exiting a parking lot; needless to say, there’s no mention of a charges or even a ticket for carelessly killing an elderly man.

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

A British borough is spending the equivalent of nearly $51,000 to install closed circuit TV cams to deter anti-social behavior by riders on a new bike path.

………

Local 

Streetsblog reports protected bike lanes — or what passes for them in Los Angeles — are finally coming to Hollywood Blvd this summer. However, they won’t offer any protection for tourists strolling along the crowded boulevard, other than a few flimsy plastic bollards and whatever cars may be parked alongside it.

The Los Angeles Times highlights six “must-see stops” along the beachfront Marvin Braude Bike Trail. Never mind that the bike path would extend to Malibu by now, instead of stopping at Will Rogers State Beach, except for a misguided campaign to halt the extension over the optics of spending millions to build it. 

Culver City is moving forward with plans for a three-mile concrete bike lane on Overland Ave, along with new safety and streetscape improvements, extending from Venice Blvd through Fox Hills.

Malibu locals can get a free T-shirt calling for speed cams on deadly PCH, complete with an acronym calling for drivers to slow the fuck down, at the Tracy Park Gallery this evening.

 

State

As we noted yesterday, the California legislature has rejected Governor Newsom’s call to gut the state’s Active Transportation Program; Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry explains just how awful the cuts would be. Not to mention the draconian cuts also shows the lack of actual climate bona fides for our ostensibly “climate champion” governor.

Goleta opened a new community garden, playground and extended multi-purpose path through a local park.

A woman in San Mateo County was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges for the drunken crash that killed a 60-year old bicyclist in 2022; 33-year old Samantha Mei Hartwell qualified for the murder count thanks to her previous DUI convictions.

 

National

Men’s Journal recommends three “must-have” mountain bike and/or accessories for when you decide to chuck it all and live out of your van.

A blog post examines the science of why we give up, as it relates to a failed century ride.

An op-ed in a Boulder, Colorado paper suggests that instead of conducting a road diet to improve safety, bike riders should just ride on quieter neighborhood streets. Never mind that the purpose of a road diet is to tame a dangerous roadway, and the bike lanes are usually a tool to do that. And no one would suggest that drivers should be forced to take a slower, circuitous route filled with stop signs just to get where they’re going.

A New York man was killed riding his bike home from his job as a Manhattan dishwasher, after the city delayed installation of a protected bike lane last fall that might have saved him.

 

International

Now you, too, can ride up Glasgow, Scotland’s 650-foot long Montrose Street hill, with it’s “infamous” 14% gradient featured in last year’s World Championships.

Derby, England’s iconic bespoke bike brand Mercian Cycles is entering voluntary liquidation and shutting down operations after 78 years; Leigh Timmis rode one of their bikes on his seven-year, 44,000-mile ride around the world.

After spending the last decade focused on building “bicycle superhighways” for commuters, London’s transportation department is launching a series of leisurely bike routes of up to ten miles for weekend riding.

National Geographic recommends the 15-day, 535-mile bicycle-and-train Slovenia Green Gourmet Route, providing a fresh two-wheeled perspective on the country’s food, history and culture.

A pair of German sisters are now three years and over 6,200 miles into a bike tour of Africa, after they initially set out for Portugal and just kept going.

Over 5,000 elementary school kids in Kitakyushu, Japan have received an official-looking bicycle license after taking a course in bike safety and passing a simple test, although the license doesn’t seem to be required or provide any added benefits. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgium’s “Spy in the Peloton” offers an insider’s look at motor doping inspections at the recently completed Giro, which was the fastest in the race’s storied 115-year history.

The Tour de Suisse will honor fallen pro cyclist Gino Mäder at this year’s race, a year after he was killed in a high-speed crash during last year’s tour.

Former pro Peter Sagan failed to qualify for Slovakia’s mountain bike team for the upcoming Paris Olympics, after his training was derailed by a heart condition earlier this year, ending his illustrious career with a whimper instead of a bang.

 

Finally…

Your next gravel bike could be an e-Ducati. Nothing like putting the blame on you to avoid getting hit by a careless driver.

And look, ma, no feet!

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Taking Newsom to task for climate arson Active Transportation cuts, and bike bills still active in state legislature

May 30, 2024 / / Comments Off on Taking Newsom to task for climate arson Active Transportation cuts, and bike bills still active in state legislature
Just 215 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve inched up to 1,151 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll forward the petition to the mayor’s office later this week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already to sign it now! 

………

My apologies, once again.

Yesterday’s unexcused absence was the result of too many demands on too little time, resulting in my blood sugar circling the drain.

I’m just trying to get through one day at a time, while devoting myself full-time to caring for my injured wife, our uninjured dog and our ultra-messy apartment, while still trying to squeeze in enough time to write about bikes and do the work I love.

Because I really don’t know how I’m going to make it through the next several weeks until she finally gets back on her feet.

………

Streets For All founder Michael Schneider strikes again, continuing to fight the good fight with another transportation related op-ed in the Los Angeles Times.

Schneider takes California Governor Gavin Newsom to task for his ill-advised budget cuts to the state’s Active Transportation Program, in the face of the ongoing climate emergency.

California has ambitious climate goals: By 2045, the state wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 85%, drop gas consumption 94% and cut air pollution 71%. The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in California is the transportation sector, with passenger vehicles making up the largest portion of that.

Curbing pollution from passenger vehicles won’t be easy. And if the state invests in the wrong infrastructure, those goals could become impossible. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal would be a big swerve in the wrong direction.

The $600 million Newsom calls for cutting from the ATP, at a rate of $200 million a year, won’t begin to make a dent in the state’s massive budget shortfall — let alone California’s bloated $18 billion highway fund.

Yes, that’s $18 billion, with a B.

Yet Newsom seems to think shifting the money from the already underfunded Active Transportation budget to filling potholes and widening highways will somehow send a message.

About what, I don’t know. Because it barely adds up to more than a rounding error in the state transportation budget.

Newsom might as well pile the money in the middle of the 5 Freeway and torch it, for all the difference it would make for the state’s highways. Which would probably cause a lot less harm to the environment than what he has in mind.

Yet that $200 million missing from the state’s Active Transportation budget could fund up to 200 miles of separated, mixed-use pathways. Or 2,000 miles of the kind of separated bike lanes that Los Angeles transportation officials like to pretend are protected.

Or even adequately fund California’s moribund joke of an ebike rebate program.

Any of which could actually get people out of their cars and benefit the environment, rather than continuing to do harm.

We can only hope the state legislature rejects Newsom’s proposed budget cuts.

Actually, we can do more than that. A lot more.

Like reach out to our elected representatives and demand — okay, politely request in the strongest possible terms — that we stop flushing massive amounts of money on wasteful highway spending, and put it to far more climate-friendly use.

Here’s what Schneider has to say.

…This month, the commission approved the controversial expansion of Interstate 80 between Davis and Sacramento, which will also cost hundreds of millions of dollars — equivalent to all funded active transportation projects in 2023. Why would we pump more money into projects that work against our climate goals?

The Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, under climate champion and Chair Sen. Scott Wiener, would most likely be amenable to rejecting the proposed cuts to active transportation. If so, it’s critical that L.A.-area Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Budget, gets on board as well. It would take both the Senate and the Assembly to override the governor’s proposal.

You can contact Asm. Gabriel here.

Meanwhile, Calbike reports the legislature’s proposed budget rescinds the governor’s cuts to the Active Transportation Program, so maybe some gentle encouragement is more appropriate.

Now they just need to stop wasting money on induced demand-inducing highway projects, and put it to better uses that won’t kill the planet.

Or those of us who live on it.

………

Calbike provides an updated report on the bike bills still under consideration in the state legislature as it reaches the halfway point in this year’s legislative session.

As we noted before, the bold initiative to require speed limiting devices on all new cars has been modified to instead require easily ignored warnings for speeding drivers. It was also changed to accommodate the trucking industry’s reluctance to require life-saving sideguards, in an apparent attempt to keep their trucks as deadly as possible. .

The legislature also voted to keep bike riders in bike lanes at risk of right hooks by drivers. Although they probably wouldn’t phrase it quite like that.

And Oceanside Assemblymember Tasha Boerner’s bill to require a separate ebike license for anyone without a driver’s license has thankfully been amended to allow a local pilot of ebike age restrictions and an education diversion program for bicycling tickets, which is already allowed under state law.

………

Freed from the Wall Street Journal’s draconian paywall, bike-riding Journal columnist Jason Gay offers a warm remembrance of bike-riding UCLA and NBA superstar Bill Walton, who died this week at 71.

Velo’s Bruce Hildenbrand remember’s the famous Deadhead, too.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A Michigan man used Zoom to call into a court hearing about getting his suspended driver’s license back — while he was driving.

………

It’s now 161 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, as California dithers, the price of ebikes — along with children’s bikes and some carbon-frame bikes — is about to take a big jump, as the Biden administration is allowing a 25% jump in tariffs to take effect.

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

Damn good question. Momentum considers why riding a bicycle in the city is turning into a culture war.

Sacramento is planning to put an end to drivers illegally taking over a local bike path to avoid traffic.

Someone sabotaged the 52nd edition of Colorado’s Iron Horse Bike Classic on Saturday, tossing tacks on the roadway that flatted the tires of up to 50 riders — and could have resulted in serious injuries. Or worse.

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

No bias here. A Washington resident blames speeding bicyclists after his doorbell cam captures video of a woman stepping onto a trail in front of a bike rider, who rings his bell in warning, before she gets hit by another bike rider coming the opposite way. Which sounds a lot more like someone crossing the trail without paying attention. 

Streetsblog reports New York police are flooding the city’s popular Prospect Park amid a rise in tensions and vigilantism, after someone on a bicycle slammed into a pedestrian.

Bizarre story from the UK, where a man says he was threatened by a bicyclist just for complimenting the man’s bicycle as he walked past. Something tells me there has to be more to this story, which only makes sense if the bike rider somehow interpreted the compliment as a threat. Or was a complete psycho. 

………

Local 

Metro offers a look inside their free Adopt a Bike program to provide bikes to residents of vulnerable communities, donating bicycles abandoned on the transit system each month.

Burbank’s popular Chandler Bike Path will mark its 20th anniversary this August, and My Burbank thinks that’s cause for a celebration.

Police in Hermosa Beach began a crackdown on scofflaw ebike and electric motorcycle riders. Which sounds a lot like illegal selective enforcement, unless they are equally targeting law-breaking drivers who put ebike riders at risk.

Caltrans wants your input on what new bike lanes planned for PCH in Long Beach will look like.

 

State

A 73-year old writer for Daily Kos explains why an old guy like him would ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles for next week’s annual AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.

The somewhat less-than-urbanist San Diego Reader says the bike lanes in Serra Mesa are out of control, road diets don’t always work, and the people of San Diego never voted for bike lanes. Except they did, when they elected officials who openly supported bike lanes. And just a hint — it’s not the bikes or bike lanes that make traffic back up, it’s too damn many cars.

A San Diego letter writer says the poor put-upon drivers who block bike lanes are only doing it because of a “deplorable” lack of convenient legal parking spaces, and no one uses them, anyway. Apparently not even the bike riders who complain about people blocking them with their cars.

Sad news from Kern County, where a 63-year old Oildale man was killed after allegedly riding his bike without lights after dark and crossing directly in front of an oncoming vehicle.

A confusing, over-capacity Oakland intersection is losing its slip lanes, and getting protected and buffered bike lanes.

The UC Davis student newspaper looks at the history of biking culture in the bike-friendly city. Although as frequent contributor and UC grad student Megan Lynch likes to point out, both the campus and the city could be a lot friendlier.

 

National

Planetizen examines the challenge of keeping scofflaw drivers out of new bus and bike lanes.

Departing Oregon US Rep. Earl Blumenauer thinks bicycling is on the verge of its big moment, and he wants to catalyze that revolution before he leaves Congress at the end of the year.

The Guardian reviews Matthew Modine’s Hard Miles, the fact-based movie where he leads a group of troubled Colorado teens on a grueling 700-mile, two-wheeled journey of discovery.

A 61-year old Black man is riding 1,000 miles from New York to Chicago to encourage Black Americans to adopt a healthier, plant-based lifestyle.

A Streetsblog op-ed calls on New Jersey to reject its misguided war on ebikes.

A North Carolina woman offers bike safety tips, seven months after she was sideswiped by a reckless truck driver while riding her bike, resulting in a long journey to recovery.

 

International

A pro bike mechanic says not everyone likes bicyclists, but everyone loves a small terrier of questionable parentage riding a bike in a rucksack.

Rapha has released its first bicycling-specific hijab as part of the company’s new modest-wear collection.

Good on him. The mayor of Quebec brushed aside opposition calls for a tax on bicyclists, arguing it would merely divide the population while punishing low-carbon road users.

Parents in Manchester, England are up in arms over a bike path “plonked” in the middle of a playground, forcing kids to cross it to use various equipment. As much as I hate to admit it, I wish I could say all bike riders are conscientious, polite and safety-conscious, but human nature dictates some will always be otherwise. 

An “independent” study commissioned by Lime says London could reduce rental bicycle clutter on the city’s streets by simplifying ebike rules and creating more dockless bikeshare parking.

The Telegraph, which has been fanning the flames of bike hatred in recent weeks, surprisingly posts a bike-friendly column about what Britain can learn from the rest of Europe when it comes to protecting bicyclists.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 90-year old English man will mark his birthday with a ten-day, 450-mile ride up the west coast of Scotland.

The UK’s two leading political parties both promised the proposed dangerous cycling law that could imprison bike riders who kill for up to 14 years will be approved after the upcoming election, regardless of who wins. Meanwhile, British bike hero Chris Boardman says the moral panic about bike riders who kill is hateful and wrong, when drivers kill thousands more with impunity.

A new Swedish study shows the right road markings can support the development of bicycling.

Indian bicyclists are counter-intuitively looking forward to monsoon season, when the added greenery fueled by the monsoons offer a boost to their rides, despite the risk of soaked jerseys.

A 28-year old Ghanian man is riding 500 miles to the nation’s capital on a mission to prove bicycling can serve the main form of transportion for his fellow countrymen and women, despite the country’s severe weather conditions.

Congratulations to the third-generation head of Shimano on entering the ranks of Japan’s richest people.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australian cyclist Jay Vine has finally gotten the okay to resume “gentle” training, after recovering from spinal injuries he suffered in a high speed crash during April’s Tour of the Basque Country.

Colombian cyclist Miguel Ángel López — 3rd place finisher in the 2018 Giro and Vuelta, and 4th in the 2022 Vuelta — received a likely career-ending four year ban for doping yesterday; he’ll be 33 before he’s allowed back on a bike again.

More proof bikes mean life in disasters, manmade and otherwise. According to Cycling Weekly, “A Palestinian paracycling team based in war-torn Gaza now uses its bikes to transport food and supplies to local neighborhoods while keeping the Paralympic dream alive.” Seriously, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Now you, too, can have your name and logo on the Visma-Lease a Bike team jerseys for the Tour de France. I’d buy space for a BikinginLA patch, but somehow I don’t think an annual income in the high five figures would cover the cost.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could power itself with hydraulics instead of pedals. No, the law doesn’t say you can ride your bike naked — but it doesn’t say you can’t.

And your next bike ride could be a real high wire act.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

The late great Bill Walton was one of us, the predominantly puerile ebike peril, and 91-year old Whittier bike advocate dies

May 28, 2024 / / One comment
Just 217 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve inched up to 1,151 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll forward the petition to the mayor’s office later this week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already to sign it now! 

Image by Michael Gaida from Pixabay.

………

Former UCLA and NBA great Bill Walton was one of us.

Walton, who reinvented himself as a top NBA broadcaster and analyst after injuries forced him to retire, was known as much for his love of bicycling and the Grateful Dead, as for his skill on the court.

He was often seen riding his custom, oversized Dead-decorated bike around the streets of San Diego, as well as riding to boost the former Tour of California.

In fact, he was honored with a life-sized statue depicting him with his bicycle at San Diego’s Mission Bay.

He died of cancer on Monday. He was 72.

………

Today’s common theme is the peril posed by people — mostly young people — on electric bicycles.

Multiple reports accused teenagers on ebikes of “terrorizing” South Bay communities, as residents call for ticketing, or even jailing, kids who raise havoc by riding aggressively. Although once again, they appear to be riding electric motorbikes rather than bicycles. And if they really want to talk about terror, they should try getting threatened by the people in the big, dangerous machines. 

New Yorkers were happy to have “essential workers” on ebikes deliver their food during the pandemic, but now some think they’ve turned the city into a nightmare.

An Australian council posted “comically large” signs calling on teenaged ebike riders to know the law regarding ebikes, and use their bells to let other know they’re passing.

An Aussie paper writes that a neighborhood is being plagued by kids on fat ebikes with oversized tires. But somehow illustrates the story with a very non-electric fat-tired mountain bike. 

But a writer for a La Jolla paper argues that teenagers on ebikes may think they don’t have to obey stop signs because many drivers don’t, either.

………

Sad news from Whittier, where longtime bicyclist and advocate Samanda Guyan has died.

Known as “Sam, Sam the bicycle ma’am,” Guyan co-founded the Whittier Wheelman with her husband Bob, and wrote a bicycling column for the Whittier Daily News.

She leaves behind four children, seven grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces and nephews

She was 91.

………

Bike Talk talks with the author of the new book Killed By An Engineer.

………

It’s now 159 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

While California’s seemingly moribund program stuck on endless delay, a study of an ebike rebate program in Saanich, British Columbia shows that up to 76% of recipients were first time ebike buyers, depending on the amount of the rebate. And after a full year, they were using their new ebikes three to four days a week, and driving an average of 30 miles a week less than they did before.

………

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

An off-duty Florida fire chief faces charges for intentionally targeting a man riding a bicycle, after yelling at him to get out of the road; the victim tried riding up onto to raised median to get away as the driver followed in his truck, before repeatedly pushing him and knocking away the phone he was trying to record the assault with.

A British Member of Parliament is accused of displaying “raw prejudice” against bicyclists after sending an angry email rant to a constituent who complained about his contradictory stance calling for a crackdown on bike riders, while ignoring the threat posed by motor vehicles.

A vigilante Aussie driver is charged with murder for deliberately running down a man riding a bicycle over a property dispute stemming from the day before.

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

The LAPD chased a murder suspect who attempted to flee by bicycle, following him on a slow and on a wobbly ride on the 5 Freeway, before eventually making the arrest by bumping him with a patrol car after he exited the freeway and knocking him off his bicycle. Never mind that hitting a suspect with a patrol car should be considered deadly use of force, just as if they had attempted to shoot him to keep him from escaping.

A road-raging young bike rider was accused of breaking an Edinburgh driver’s wing mirror at a red light, after the two exchanged words — and gestures — when the driver honked at the man for using his phone while riding with no hands.

Singapore police busted 25 bicyclists for violating the county’s strict limitation to groups of no more than five if riding single file, or 10 if riding two abreast.

………

Local 

A West Hollywood resident posted video of a bike thief using an angle grinder to steal his bike Thursday morning on busy Santa Monica Boulevard.

Streetsblog looks at El Monte’s new Merced Ave Linear Park, the first in a series of multimodal paths connecting to the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area and Rio Hondo.

Seventy-two-year old Michael Keaton is one of us, too, riding to dinner in Santa Monica with his longtime girlfriend. Although someone should tell the Daily Mail that Santa Monica is a separate city, not a neighborhood in Los Angeles.

 

State

A pair of Carmel Valley students took top honors at the state and regional levels of a national STEM competition with their design for a bike helmet that would communicate with an ebike, preventing it from operating unless the helmet was safely in place.

Dozens of San Diego bicyclists rode on Saturday to honor San Diego native Corporal Gregory “Shortie” Millard, who died while deployed to Iraq in 2007

 

National

A car site calls protected intersections an ingenious solution that has the potential to save the lives of bicyclists and pedestrians, while a similar site says the intersections look awful, but actually make sense.

California ranks eighth on a list of American states bike riders want to move to, topped by Washington, Rhode Island, Vermont and Oregon.

A writer for Wired argues your tires are too skinny, suggesting that replacing them with the widest soft-sided tires that will fit your bike will improve your ride, without slowing you down.

A 23-year old Ukrainian refugee pled not guilty to reckless vehicular homicide in the death of 17-year old US National Team cyclist Magnus White in Boulder, Colorado last December, after she appeared to fall asleep behind the wheel.

No bias here. The New York Post’s anti-bike crank calls Philadelphia a model of urban order, without Gotham’s bike lanes creating traffic chaos.

In a heartbreaking story, a Georgia firefighter was on the phone with his wife when she was hit and killed while using the speakerphone on her bicycle; he knew it was her when the 911 call came into the nearby station where he works.

 

International

Bike Radar talks examines the best bike helmets for roadies.

GCN considers how bicycling to work can improve your mental health.

The annual World Naked Bike Ride bares all, or nearly all, in Toronto next week, though LA bike riders aren’t scheduled to strip until June 24th.

A pair of New York artists have installed a whimsical sculpture in Toronto’s David Pecaut Square; titled “He Was on a Ride to a Safer Place,” the interactive sculpture features an anthropomorphic rabbit and dog riding a bicycle built for four, captained by a rhinoceros, with an empty seat for a passenger int he back.

He gets it. When a 69-year old Montreal man won $7 million in the lottery last month, the first thing he wanted to do was by a new bike to replace the one he had stolen a few years earlier.

The London borough of Ealing is accused of “kowtowing to drivers” and failing to keep children safe by preventing drivers from parking in bike lanes, despite investing millions of pounds into new bike lanes and safe routes to school.

British actress Minnie Driver is also one of us, riding a bikeshare bike after shopping in Notting Hill.

Demonstrating the same sense of entitlement they often accuse us of, London drivers threaten to go to court to force the city to reopen a roadway to an exclusive millionaires playground, after it was closed to cars to improve safety for people on bicycles. Although chances are the real reason has a lot more to do with keeping people out of the rich people’s neighborhood than it does with bike safety. 

A former avid London bicyclist ended up giving his away after moving to Birmingham for college, after feeling unsafe and frustrated riding on the city’s streets.

An English man whose wife was killed by a reckless bike-riding teenager insists he’s not giving up on a law that could jail bike riders who kill pedestrians for years, if not life.

A British man will spend a well-deserved 12 years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run that killed a 44-year old man and a 16-year old boy as they rode their bikes, and will be banned from driving for another 13 years; he got out of his car to look at the victims before driving off and crashing into another car, injuring a woman and her children.

A new book says the UK’s 13,000-mile National Cycling Network is at constant risk of failing into disrepair.

Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc is one of us, too, as he rode his bike to his nearby home after winning the famed Monaco Grand Prix, before partying all night with the principality’s royal family.

National Geographic provides a practical guide to riding the Green Routes of Slovenia.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar waltzed to victory in the Giro by the biggest margin in six decades, winning by 9 minutes, 56 seconds over runner-up Daniel Martinez, while Geraint Thomas finished third at 10:24 behind.

Belgian star Wout van Aert bounced back from a devastating high-speed crash in March’s Dwars door Vlaanderen with a podium finish in the Tour of Norway, positioning him to return to the Tour de France.

A 23-year old neurodivergent woman took park in a three-day British stage race, competing for her semi-professional team despite having dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism.

A Chicago woman set out on Sunday in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you get a great deal on a cruiser bike, and the helpful guy who lugs it up the stairs wouldn’t be caught dead on it. Your new rear-view app could rely on the same advanced tech that creates people with three hands and Black Nazi soldiers.

And you haven’t ridden a bike until you’ve ridden at the speed of light.

No, really.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Ebikes blamed for actress injured in e-motorbike crash, and bill banning sharrows on high-speed roads gets CA Senate nod

May 24, 2024 / / One comment
Just 221 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve inched up to 1,147 signatures, so don’t stop now! I plan to forward the petition to the mayor’s office next week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already to sign it now! 

Photo from Nina Dobrev’s Instagram account. 

………

When is an ebike not an ebike?

Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev posted before and after photos showing her on an electric off-road motorcycle, and in a hospital bed wearing neck and knee braces, saying it’s going to be a long road to recovery.

The problem comes, like Simon Cowell before her, in how the media has reported it.

News stories have variously described the motorbike she was riding as an ebike, an electric dirt bike and an electric motorcycle. Or sometimes more than one.

But only the last two are accurate.

By conflating all two-wheeled electric bikes as ebikes, they add to the misperception that ebikes are dangerous, as Malcomb Watson points out below.

Part of the problem comes from the ebike classifications that began in California, and have been adopted by states across the US.

But there’s a big difference between a ped-assist ebike with a top speed of 20 mph, and a throttle-controlled moped that can do 30 mph.

Let alone a motor scooter or electric motorcycle.

Yet to most of the media — and much of the public — they’re all ebikes. So if you wonder what the ebike panic is all about, that’s a good place to start.

Chart by Orange County Bicycle Coalition

………

A bike bill moving on to the state Assembly would ban sharrows from streets with speeds over 30 mph.

Now we just have to ban them from all the other streets, too.

………

Gravel Bike California offers a beginners guide on where to start.

………

It’s now 155 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

A Houston woman was the victim of a road-raging terrorist, who allegedly tossed roofing nails onto the side of the road following a back-and-forth encounter with a group of bicyclists; she suffered a broken collar bone, pelvic bone injuries and a concussion after hitting the nails on her bike while riding at around 25 mph. A crowdfunding page to help pay her medical expenses has raised over $11,000 of the $15,000 goal.

In yet another example of cops without a clue when it comes to bike law, a Georgia man was detained for riding his ebike in the street after dark, with the cops apparently unaware what an ebike is, and why he couldn’t just ride it on the sidewalk, where it’s prohibited.

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

A 36-year old San Francisco man is under arrest after allegedly running a red light on his bicycle and slamming into a 65-year old woman, then fleeing the scene and leaving the victim with life-threatening injuries. Yet another reminder that you’re required to stick around after hitting someone with your bike, just like the people in the big, dangerous machines. Even if they too often don’t. 

………

Local 

Enjoy a ride under the full moon with tonight’s Moonlight Mash in Long Beach.

 

State

Caltrans officially opened a new bike underpass beneath the 5 Freeway in San Diego’s Carmel Valley, providing a new connection to the State Route 56 Bike Path, North Coast Bike Trail and Coastal Rail Trail.

This is who we share the road with. A Subaru driver apparently tried to turn a Goleta 7-11 into a drive-thru, plowing through the front windows to completely embed his Outback in the convenience store. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

Speaking of Goleta, a recent series of bicycle and pedestrian safety stings operations resulted in 53 citations, but the story doesn’t break down how many drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians got them. Thanks again to Megan Lynch. 

The Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission moved a step closer to ripping out the bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and turning the bridge over to the people in motor vehicles, who want the whole damn thing for themselves.

Streetsblog asks how many San Francisco bike riders have to get doored before the city stops installing painted bike lanes.

 

National

Bike Index has launched a new app to simplify registering your bikes, for free, from anywhere in the world.

After 412 days and 18,000 miles, Spencer McCullough has finished riding to all 51 National Parks in the lower 48 states.

Gear Junkie picks 13 of the year’s best bike helmets for roadies.

Bicycling looks back at the horrific coal rolling case that nearly killed six bicyclists in a rural community outside of Houston. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you. 

Indianapolis is now the first American city to offer free bikeshare to all its residents, with a fleet of 325 new ebikes. Which could be the best way to keep people from stealing them, since they can just go out and use another one.

Tennessee invited bike riders to “explore 52 stunning, epic landscapes” on the state’s 52 curated bike routes, traversing 1,739 miles across 53 counties, complete with a nifty pedaling logo on their website.

A writer for the Harvard student paper says the contentious new bike lanes currently being built on the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts represent a bitter division in the city’s politics, leaving may residents at a loss for how it can be bridged.

New York’s Indian Consulate noted the “disturbing trend” of Indian citizens getting killed in the US, after an Indian student at SUNY university was killed in a collision while riding a bike on Wednesday; needless to say, the driver wasn’t charged.

 

International

Momentum offers ten must-try North American summer bike touring routes. The magazine also offers a guide to the World Naked Bike Ride, spreading its cheeks in over 70 cities across 20 countries this year; Los Angeles is set to bare it all on June 24th. Or most of it, anyway.

Road.cc offers tips on how to diagnose and deal with saddle pain, and why your bike seat may not be the problem.

A Cuban radio station recounts the many benefits of bicycling, in advance of next month’s UN World Bicycle Day.

Parents in the London borough of Ealing won’t let their kids ride bikes on the street, despite millions spent on new bicycling infrastructure, because illegal parking, congested roads and a lack of traffic enforcement have made many bike lanes virtually useless.

Londoners will get a new bike and pedestrian bridge connecting the boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham over the River Lea.

This is who we share the road with, part two. After finishing a 40 month sentence for killing a 15-year old bike rider in a 2021 hit-and-run, a British man led the cops on a chase at speeds up to 100 mph, despite a three year driving ban that began the day he got out.

Cycling Weekly considers why speed limits don’t apply to Brits on bicycles, and whether that really means you can ride as fast as you want in the UK.

A new Danish study shows people who bike for transportation seldom choose the shortest route, but rather one that feels the shortest, with fewer interruptions.

The Global Times examines the historic “cycling craze” that’s sweeping Chinese cities — and inspiring demand for luxury bikewear.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former pro cyclist Lizzy Banks describes how a false positive on a drug test derailed her racing career, and took a toll on her “mental health, finances, future earnings as a pro, and her love and faith in the sport,” despite being cleared of any wrong doing. Read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you.

Bicycling Australia says if there’s anyone who can win the rare Giro – Tour de France double in the same year, it’s Tadej Pogačar, who has the first part pretty much wrapped up.

Former Unbound gravel race champ Ivar Slik suffered a severe concussion, broken nose and cuts and bruises when he somehow crashed into a car while on an Arkansas training ride with a group of his fellow Dutch cyclists.

Several cyclists collided on the 4th stage of the Tour of Albania; no word on any possible injuries. Bonus points if you even knew there is a Tour of Albania, now in its 81st year. 

 

Finally…

Busted for looking like a wanted man’s doppelgänger. Why go to court, when you can battle it out with the cops on Facebook?

And when you’re carrying meth and fentanyl on your bike, stop for the damn stop signs, already — and put a taillight on it.

The bike, that is. Not the drugs.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Closing a non-existent bike lane, Newsom guts climate-friendly Active Transportation funds, and draconian Brit bike law on hold

May 23, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 222 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve made it up to 1,145 signatures, so don’t stop now! I plan to forward the petition to the mayor’s office next week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already to sign it now! 

………

Today’s photo comes from La Cienega Blvd across from the Beverly Center yesterday afternoon, when the non-existent bike lane was somehow closed for construction work.

Maybe they’re just getting ready in case there ever is one.

………

Politico looks at Governor Newsom’s ill-advised attempt to cut $600 million from the state’s climate-change fighting Active Transportation Program — $200 million a year for three years — rather than take the money from the state’s massive $5.2 billion highway maintenance fund.

According to the story,

“Continuing to divert state highway account funds could negatively impact the key work that Caltrans does to maintain the state highway system,” budget analyst Benjamin Pollack told lawmakers last week.

Marty Greenstein, a spokesperson for the California State Transportation Agency, said in an email that $650 million has already been pulled from the highway account to support various programs, and more shifts could hurt clean transportation efforts, “including complete streets, climate adaptation and other multimodal projects.”

Which seems strange, since the ATP funds active transportation programs like — wait for it — complete streets, climate adaption and other multimodal projects.

And maybe I’m unclear on the concept, but it seems like maintenance funds are more likely to be used to patch potholes and restripe highways than re-engineer roadways to make them more welcoming to people who aren’t safely encased in motor vehicles.

Meanwhile, Calbike says the state has a climate deficit to go along with its massive financial one.

………

It turns out the UK’s draconian new law criminalizing deadly bike riders was just political vaporware.

The legislation, which would have created a crime of causing death by dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling with a penalty of up to 14 years behind bars, was put on hold Wednesday when the country’s Prime Minister called for new elections in July.

Hopefully by then, the demonization of bike riders by the British press will have subsided, and cooler heads will toss the bill into the dustbin of history, where it belongs.

Meanwhile, The London Telegraph buried a correction to its bizarre claim that Strava data showed bicyclists riding through the streets of London at an impossible 52 mph by placing it at the end of the online version of the story, nearly a week after blaring the claim in huge type above the masthead on the paper’s front page.

And a writer for The Telegraph says the solution to dangerous bicyclists is the utterly impractical idea of requiring bike riders to carry numbered license plates, which would have to be large enough to read at a distance, making them too big for a big.

Unless they want to make us wear them on our backs, like a bicycling scarlet letter shaming us before all those good, honest and law-abiding people in cars.

………

Beverly Hills will rip out a short protected bike lane along Roxbury Park to restore the angled parking spaces that were removed for the bike lane, citing the bike lane’s limited use, with an average of just 35 riders using it each day.

Because evidently, bike riders are somehow supposed to go out of their way to ride on dangerous high-speed streets just to get to a lousy 900-foot bike lane completely disconnected from any other bike infrastructure.

Someone needs to tell officials in the former Biking Black Hole that even the best bike lanes are worthless unless and until they’re integrated into an actual bike network, with safe routes to get to and from them.

And that goes for 85 of the other 87 cities in LA County, with the limited exceptions of Long Beach and Santa Monica.

………

Assuming this passes the Assembly — and gets the governor’s signature, which is not guaranteed — Caltrans will be required to implement complete streets measures whenever they do major work on state-owned roadways.

………

GCN considers why bicyclists really should care about average speeds.

………

It’s now 154 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

While we continue to wait for California’s new moribund ebike voucher program to finally get off the ground — if it ever does — Contra Costa County will provide up to $300 in cash rebates for any ebike purchased within the last six months.

………

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

No bias here. A San Diego writer says the ghost bike installed for 16-year old fallen bicyclist Brodee Champlain Kingman says everything you need to know about ebikes, including throttle-controlled Class 3 ebikes capable of up to 28 mph. Except, to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever said what kind of ebike Kingman was riding, and he was hit by a driver while apparently making a legal lane change, and doing nothing else wrong.

No surprise here, as New Jersey bike riders aren’t crazy about plans to require even low-speed ebikes and electric scooters to be registered and insured. Which is putting it mildly.

………

Local 

Metro Bike is teaming with the California African American Museum to host a three-mile community ride this Saturday celebrating the opening of the Paula Wilson: Toward the Sky’s Back Door exhibit.

“Dozens and dozens” of angry West Hollywood residents turned out to complain that no one told them parking spaces would be removed to make room for bike lanes on Gardner, Willoughby and Vista aves; one person called for sharrows, instead, which studies have been shown to be worse than nothing.

 

State

The state Senate has passed SB 961 and is sending it on to the Assembly; the watered down bill would just require new cars to give an audible warning when they exceed the posted speed limit, rather than require governors to prevent drivers from speeding more than 10 mph over the limit.

Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry talks with Tom Butler about his podcast “Cycling Over Sixty,” which is exactly what it sounds like.

Sad news from Grover Beach, where a 74-year old man faces a misdemeanor charge when a woman died 12 days after she was struck by the driver while riding her bike; prosecutors did the defense lawyer’s work for them, blaming glare from the sun and the time of day for contributing to the crash.

A new minor league baseball team in bike-friendly Davis is named the Yolo High Wheelers, which isn’t an acronym for You Only Live Once, but named for its home in Yolo County, along with a term for Penny Farthings.

 

National

Bicycling answers 15 key beginner biking questions. Which you can read for free on AOL, even though the story says it’s for Bicycling members only.

A woman recounts her epic 3,500-mile bike ride from Alaska to California. Once again, read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you. 

The annual CABDA West bike show will move to Las Vegas next year.

An Arizona man faces up to 33 years behind bars for an allegedly stoned hit-and-run, even though his bike-riding victim only suffered a little road rash on elbows; the 31-year old driver was booked on charges of hit and run, aggravated assault, aggravated DUI, drug DUI, driving with a revoked license and injuring someone in a crash. Even I think that’s just a tad extreme, given the limited extent of the victim’s injuries.

Terrible story from South Dakota, where a nine-year old boy was killed by a pack of feral dogs as he was riding his bike on the Sioux Nation.

A new documentary follows a Black father and son as they take a challenging ride from St. Louis to Chicago, while describing the father’s journey to a healthier lifestyle.

Life is cheap in Chicago, where a speeding driver walked with a lousy $500 fine for failing to reduce his speed before killing a woman riding a bicycle two years ago. Gentle wrist caresses like this are exactly why people keep dying on our streets.

An Indianapolis father and his young son will continue their annual tradition of biking 16 miles to see the Indianapolis 500.

Tribal officials announced the twelve bicyclists from the Cherokee Nation who will participate in June’s Remember the Removal Bike Ride, retracing the 950-mile route of the tragic forced march that removed their ancestors from their tribal homelands.

More proof that bikes mean business, helping revitalize a small Vermont town even before a new bike path intended to connect it to a larger network, as residents work on improving the downtown area to attract new bike tourists.

A Massachusetts talk radio station bizarrely conflates bicycle-pedestrian crashes with deaths and injuries to vulnerable road users resulting from motor vehicle crashes, with one single paragraph inserted into the story about bicyclists crashing into pedestrians, and no stats or other evidence to show bike-ped crashes are actually a problem.

 

International

Momentum shares the six best wine regions in North America for a summer bicycling getaway. Because biking to the wineries is a much better idea than drunkenly driving from one to another.

St. John’s, Moncton, Charlottetown, Montreal, Ottawa and Edmonton top the list of the most dangerous Canadian cities to ride a bike in. Meanwhile, the most dangerous citiy in the US to ride a bike in is all of them.

An 81-year old British Columbia woman draws a distinction between throttle-controlled ebikes and the ped-assist kind she rides, saying throttled ebikes are really motorbikes that don’t belong on trails or in bike lanes.

A new London study shows that pedestrians are twice as likely to get hit by quiet operating electric and hybrid cars, compared to noisier gas-powered vehicles.

Britain’s pandemic bike boom appears to be going bust, as the latest stats show driving rates climbed 3% while traffic miles by buses, coaches and bicycles declined, with bicycling rates dropping a drastic 7.3%.

 

Competitive Cycling

A 53-year old Italian cyclist faces criminal charges after he was caught motor doping in the 40th annual Routes de l’Oise French amateur stage race, and carried the race director on the hood of his car for more than the length of a football field while he attempted to flee afterwards.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your new $230 Chinese ebike is a literal road hazard. Or when Ed Sheeran puts on an impromptu acappela concert while cruising on a bikeshare bike.

And when is a bike lane not a bike lane? When it’s a right turn lane — or a parking lot.

Or doesn’t exist, for that matter.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

No surprise as LA fails first HLA test, and CTC praises Active Transportation Program targeted for Newsom budget cuts

May 22, 2024 / / Comments Off on No surprise as LA fails first HLA test, and CTC praises Active Transportation Program targeted for Newsom budget cuts
Just 223 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve made it up to 1,143 signatures, so don’t stop now! I plan to forward the petition to the mayor’s office next week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already signed it to sign now! 

………

Is anyone really surprised Los Angeles isn’t living up to Measure HLA yet?

Or at all?

After a month of foot dragging, putting the city’s street resurfacing program on hold, and near-total silence on the subject from city leaders, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that the city is has just finished work repaving Coronado Street in Silver Lake.

And needless to say, failed to follow through with the bike lanes mandated by the city’s mobility plan under HLA.

Which means, as I understand it, anyone can now file suit to force them to comply.

You know, in case you’re in the mood.

………

The California Transportation Commission sang the praises of the state’s Active Transportation Program, calling it a “key part of California’s climate efforts,” even as Governor Newsom calls for drastic budget cuts.

And even though he could easily maintain funding at current levels, or let alone increase it, just by making modest cuts to the state’s massive $19 billion — yes, with a b — highway fund.

Once again demonstrating that Newsom’s oft-spoken commitment to fighting climate change is thinner than the tread on a worn out tire.

Just like his appearance at a fancy political dinner after calling for Californians to quarantine during the early days of the pandemic, Newsom’s budget cuts show an extreme level of auto-centric hypocrisy.

In every sense.

………

Video of P Diddy — aka Sean Combs — beating his girlfriend in a hotel hallway was a bridge too far for Peloton, which cut ties with the rapper and producer.

But evidently, they were just fine with all the other accusations of sexual and physical violence, and possible sex trafficking, that weren’t caught on video.

………

This is your chance to see protected bike lanes on PCH in Long Beach.

Now we just need the do the other 650 or so miles.

………

The North Westwood Neighborhood Council — you know, the one that’s not dominated by Westwood NIMBYs — is holding a virtual meeting of their Transportation and Safety Committee this evening.

Just in case you care about bike and pedestrian safety in and around Westwood Village, and getting the long-delayed bike lanes on Westwood Blvd.

………

There may be hope for Vision Zero yet. Even if LA never does get its shit together.

………

Kriss Kyle and Danny Macaskill go head-to-head in a game of B.I.K.E.

………

It’s now 153 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. The San Diego Reader misses the point entirely, complaining that local drivers are intimidated by Critical Mass splinter groups tying up traffic while participating in ride outs. Never mind that Critical Mass is a protest against the dominance and dangers of our current automotive hegemony.

A Sacramento woman is still waiting for justice, nine months after a road-raging driver nearly killed her by intentionally ramming her bike as she was riding with a group; the 30-year old driver was arrested, but later release pending a trial date.

………

Local 

This is who we share the road with. A Valencia man was busted for DUI for the second time in just three weeks, after stalling his car in the traffic lanes of the 5 Freeway; three weeks ago, he smashed the other driver’s windshield following a crash in Stevenson Ranch.

 

State

No, you can’t legally have earbuds or headphones covering both ears when you drive or ride a bike in California.

Community members call for change after a woman was killed riding her bike in Cathedral City earlier this month; she was the 48th person killed riding a bicycle in the Coachella Valley in the past 20 years.

This is who we share the road with, part two. A 17-year old girl was busted for suspicion of DUI and hit-and-run after driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing into a Newbury Park home, then walking away; her 17-year old passenger was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication and resisting or delaying an investigation.

Huh? A Bay Area website considers the past, present and future of bicycling, saying it transformed from a “niche hobby” to one of the city’s major infrastructure efforts. Something tells me the people who’ve been biking up there for a decades might disagree with that ridiculous description.

 

National

Cycling Weekly lets the air out of the solid bike tire dream.

People For Bikes shares their federal trade policy objectives for the coming year.

A new study from the National Institutes of Health shows people who ride bikes regularly are significantly less likely to suffer from knee pain and osteoarthritis by age 65, compared to people who don’t bike. And may even live longer.

Seattle just got it’s first Dutch-style protected intersection. Which is still one more than Los Angeles has.

Denver’s free bicycle registry program, developed in conjunction with 529 Garage, has helped cut bike thefts in the city by 30%. It’s not officially a citywide program, but you can register your bike for free with Bike Index right here. 

All you have to do to get free bike repair — or a free bike — is move to Missoula, Montana.

Austin, Texas installed a lane reduction and separated bike lanes — aka a road diet — on a street plagued by speeding drivers, and saw a 64.2% drop in drivers going over 40 mph, with zero traffic deaths or serious injuries.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole 20 bike worth ten grand from an Austin nonprofit that gives free fixies to people in need.

If you build it, they will come. After going on a bike lane building binge, bicycling is growing faster in Chicago than any other city in the US, with a 119% increase in just four years. That compares favorably with Los Angeles, which didn’t. 

The US Justice Department is threatening to sue the NYPD if their cops don’t stop parking on the damn sidewalks. Maybe they could stop ’em from parking in bike lanes, too. 

A longtime international restauranteur is now selling tacos from his bicycle, after losing his popular restaurant New York in a divorce.

Speaking of a special place in hell, there’s one waiting for whoever stole an adaptive adult tricycle from an autistic Philadelphia teenager, who used it to feel more connected o the community.

 

International

Road.cc says the current slashing of bicycle prices isn’t the sign of a downturn, but just a return to normal market conditions.

Mountain biking in the City of Quebec.

The mayor of Montreal’s Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie borough has taken a page from the Paris mayor’s book, and charging higher parking fees for large trucks and SUVs.

A Scottish writer says if thoughtless delivery bike riders knew they’re as accountable as car drivers are for reckless behavior, “they might screw the nut.” Which evidently isn’t a local phrase for having sex with Mr. Peanut. And not that anyone actually holds drivers accountable, anyway. 

Apparently, British cops are now turning to Q for their traffic control devices, developing an electromagnetic pulse weapon to instantly disable ebikes and e-scooters James Bond would be proud of. Maybe they could try it on e-cars, too.

The Guardian’s Peter Walker argues that the UK’s new law against dangerous bicycling will accomplish pretty much nothing, while GCN wants to know why bike riding is so politicized right now. Which is a damn good question.

The head of a British bike company says if aviation or railroads had the safety record roads do, “planes would be grounded and trains would be stopped.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar continued to ride circles around the peloton by winning his fifth stage of the Giro on Tuesday, extending his lead to a whopping 7 minutes and 18 seconds; the stage was delayed for three hours and significantly shortened after riders revolted over being forced to ride through a snow storm.

Pogačar briefly lost his KOM on the Passo di Foscagno on Sunday’s stage of the Giro, after someone flagged him on Strava despite devastated the field.

 

Finally…

Bicycling is a gateway drug that leads to spandex and a latte addiction. That feeling when your new bike path is less than a block long, ending in a brick wall, and with a staircase in the middle.

And that feeling when a petition calling for banishing bike riders draws a whole four signatures.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Many drivers blind to how badly drivers drive, British press demonizes bike riders, and building greater inclusion in bicycling

May 20, 2024 / / Comments Off on Many drivers blind to how badly drivers drive, British press demonizes bike riders, and building greater inclusion in bicycling
Just 225 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve made it up to 1,135 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll be forwarding the petition to the mayor’s office this week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already signed the petition to sign it now! 

………

No bias here.

A British Columbia columnist wants you to imagine what would happen if drivers behaved like some bicyclists, saying there’s no gain if aggressive riding keeps others off the supposedly all-ages-and-abilities trails and lanes.

Passing at high speed without signalling verbally or with a bell. Passing at high speed without signalling on a blind curve. Passing someone else who’s passing at high speed on a blind curve. Passing within a hair’s breadth of a pedestrian at 40 km/h with no warning. Plunging through a pack of pedestrians, dogs and small children on the Selkirk Trestle at full speed.

Of course, vehicle drivers don’t typically behave this way because we have a robust system of vehicle licensing to ensure they know the rules of the road, and a somewhat less robust system of enforcement (less all the time, given the number of red-light runners observed of late.)

Yes, there is a sizable segment of bicyclists who ride in an aggressive manner, with little or no regard for how that affects others. Or how that makes people see us.

Yet it’s remarkable that so many people are blind to how motorists actually behave, as if bicyclists are the only ones who do dangerous and aggressive things out there — as if the people on two wheels somehow posed a greater risk to others than the ones in the big, dangerous machines.

Yes, scofflaw bike riders can be extremely annoying. I’ve been tempted more than once to clock some asshole who zoomed by on a narrow sidewalk, nearly hitting my wife or I, let alone our dog.

But the fact remains that even the worst bike riders pose the greatest risk to themselves, while aggressive drivers are a risk to everyone else on — or off — the roadway.

The number of people killed in collisions with bicyclists in the US each year can usually be counted on one hand, while you’d need more than 4,000 hands to count the people killed with motor vehicles, using every finger and thumb.

Especially that one.

The simple fact is, human nature dictates that some people will always be jackasses, regardless of how they choose to travel.

The only difference is which ones actually pose the real peril.

………

The demonization of bike riders by the British press in the wake of an 82-year old woman killed in a collision with a speeding bicyclist in London’s Regent Park is still going on.

A London tabloid posted photographs of “reckless” cyclists still flouting the rules, just days after leaders of the UK’S Conservative Party proposed strict new rules, including 14-years behind bars for bike riders who kill — although I wouldn’t exactly call riding while holding a cellphone in your hand reckless.

The husband of a woman killed by a bicyclist seven years ago applauded the new restrictions, while suggesting he had to overcome a super-secret bike cabal “blob” somehow entrenched within the British government. Although no one ever seems to question whether the pedestrian may have been at fault, automatically blaming the person on the bike.

And a writer for The Spectator says a crackdown on bad bicyclists can’t come soon enough, as she dreams of the day when police can immobilize ebikes and electric scooters by zapping them with pulses fired from special backpack under development from a government defense lab.

On the other hand, British bike hero Chris Boardman decried as hate speech a recent article disparaging bicyclists, while it turns out that the article claiming a bike rider was clocked doing 52 mph in a 20 mile zone was in fact co-written by a BBC fact-checker, who failed to fact-check the physically impossible report.

Cycling Weekly says parity in punishment is no problem, but “death trap” journalism that capitalizes on misinformation is unforgivable, because we can’t pretend that creating more laws for cyclists will result in equality on the roads.

And London bicyclists say Members of Parliament are spinning out of control as they peddle fears of the dangers posed by scofflaw bicyclists.

Maybe someone should explain the concept of collective guilt to the members of the press so intent on painting bike riders as the bad guys.

Because there’s no surer sign of bias than pretending the actions of some members of a group should somehow condemn the others.

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Today’s other common thread reflects the need for inclusion in the bicycling community.

The new book Black Cyclists: The Race for Inclusion examines the mostly unknown history of Black cyclists, from Major Taylor to today’s riders.

Forbes talks with the founder of the Jafe Cycling Foundation, a group dedicated to exposing middle and high school students to the sport of cycling in order to increase Black ridership, at a time when Black cyclists make up less than 1% of the pro peloton.

Bike Radar says derogatory comments and actions — intentional and otherwise — reflecting the dominance of straight males are still prevalent on the trails, within the bike industry and in the race scene, fostering an environment that discourages many women from riding.

Speaking of which, the WeHo Bicycle Coalition is hosting a group ride next month to kick off Pride Month, riding from Hollywood and Highland to the West Hollywood Pride Fest.

https://twitter.com/heybikela/status/1792368136962093338

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It’s not every day Saturday Night Live satirizes bike riders. Mostly because it only airs on Saturdays.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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It’s now 153 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

Bike lanes have become a division issue in the mayoral election in Mississauga, Ontario, as a local group is offering to support any candidate that will undo a plan for protected bike lanes passed by the city council last year.

The Magistrates Courthouse in Wimbledon, England — home to the famous tennis tournament — says don’t even think about bringing your bike onto the premises, even though they have plenty of room for parking cars.

Bicyclists slammed a proposed city ordinance in Zaragoza, Spain, which would impose a mandatory insurance requirement for everyone on a bicycle — including children — while urging motorists to dangerously overtake bike riders on the roads.

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

Police in New York are looking for a sidewalk-raging teenaged bike rider, who attacked and pummeled two young Jewish kids for blocking his way as he rode on the sidewalk; the cops are investigating the assault as a hate crime.

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Local 

The Signal offers photos from Saturday’s Hit the Trail self-guided community bike ride in Santa Clarita, even though the “community” all rode individually.

 

State

Grab your mountain bike and head to Orange County’s Silverado Canyon, where the sweeping canyons and lush wildflowers of the Red Rock Wilderness has just been opened to the public.

This is who we share the road with. A former Riverside craft brewer was sentenced to 20 years behind bars after accepting a plea deal for the drunken, high-speed hit-and-run that killed another motorist in Ontario, after prosecutors dropped a 2nd degree murder charge; Ryan Cavender Wicks earned the heavy sentence because of a previous DUI conviction.

A writer for the Fresno Bee says recent trip by city leaders to sister city Münster, Germany could offer lessons for making Fresno a safer place to ride a bike.

San Francisco bicyclists aren’t the only ones who want to feel safer on the popular route known as The Wiggle, as seniors who live along the route also risk getting hit by impatient drivers.

Frequent contributor Megan Lynch offers a Mastodon thread about her lengthy and ongoing fight for accessible bike racks at UC Davis, as campus officials can’t seem to grasp that equal accessibility is required under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

 

National

Bike shops nationwide are struggling in the face of excess inventory, as demand plummeted after manufacturers overbuilt, and bike shops overstocked, while overcompensating for the bike shortages of the pandemic.

Architecture Daily examines bike-riding urbanism pioneer Jane Jacobs, at a time when American car culture “has produced and normalized new forms of sociopathy,” and carmakers have adopted an angry-looking, “murdered-out” esthetic.

Another person riding a bicycle has been killed in police chase, when a domestic violence suspect in Phoenix fled from the cops and slammed into the bike rider as he tried to make his escape.

Here’s one for your beer bucket list, with a 25-mile bike tour of six breweries in and around Golden, Colorado, ranging from local craft brewers to the massive Coors complex.

 

International

Yes, a Mexican transit company really did put their drivers on stationary bikes to get buzzed by buses so they’d know how it feels to people on bicycles.

A British Columbia lawyer says cost savings for the province’s no-fault insurance program was made on the backs of victims like him, accusing it of shortchanging him after a bicycling crash left him a paraplegic. Thanks again to Megan Lynch. 

London plans to install planter boxes and rumble strips along a popular Thames River multi-use path to slow speeding bike riders, while stressing that pedestrians should be given priority.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 82-year old London woman rode through fog and hail to conquer the legendary Mount Ventoux, raising the equivalent of nearly $24,000 for the children of Gaza, and counting.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — okay, maybe just mine — with a list of the most beautiful bike routes in Ireland.

Momentum recommends Europe’s best spring bicycling destinations for nature lovers.

French bikemaker and sports retail giant Decathlon urged politicians to implement the European Union’s Cycling Declaration ahead of the European Parliament elections to make it easier for people to bike, while focusing on infrastructure and bike theft, and calling for more sustainable bicycle manufacturing.

A Chinese man is current riding through Africa on a bike tour that has led him through a dozen countries so far, despite loosing an arm and a leg when he was electrocuted as a teenager.

Seven-thousand people turned out in Seoul, South Korea for the 16th Seoul Bike Festival on Sunday, following a 13-mile course along the banks of the Han River.

Japanese bike riders are almost universally ignoring the country’s new mandatory helmet law, with just ten percent of bicyclists nationwide donning skid lids; meanwhile, new laws will allow police to crackdown on scofflaw bicyclists.

 

Competitive Cycling

Kristen Faulkner and Sean Quinn are your new women’s and mens US National Road Cycling champs.

Tadej Pogačar entered the final rest day of the Giro by demolishing the field in yet another solo breakaway, extending his lead to a virtually insurmountable six minutes and 41 seconds.

At this point, the only thing that may derail Pogačar in the Giro is the virus that’s sweeping the peloton, with 21 riders abandoning so far.

A writer for Velo says Pogačar is a “risk-taker, an entertainer, a high-wire act” who’s the current King of the Hill, but won’t be forever.

Um, no. Cycling Weekly’s Dr. Hutch ponders the point where a long solo break ceases to be polite, and becomes a case of showboating.

 

Finally…

Tackle the local time trial with a ‘bent. That feeling when someone thinks $1599 is “pricey” for an ebike. Your next ebike could be a golden Porsche.

And who needs lights when your whole bike glows in the dark?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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