That’s more like it.
Massachusetts becomes the first state to completely reject the 85th Percentile Law — and base new speed limits on what’s safe for the most vulnerable road users.
California has been nibbling at the edges of the deadly law, which requires cities to set speed limits at the 85% percentile of driver speeds. And allows drivers to boost speed limits on any given street merely by stepping on the gas.
Instead of repealing the rule, a new law sponsored by Burbank Assemblywoman Laura Friedman allows cities and counties to lower speed limits by 5 mph on high injury streets, as well as streets with a high number of bike riders and pedestrians.
It doesn’t begin to compare with what Massachusetts is doing.
But it’s a start.
Did you hear? @MassDOT is kicking the dangerous & ridiculous #85thPercentileRule to the curb in favor of setting speeds to match what is safe for vulnerable users. They are also funding investments in safety improvements for all users. Good work people! #VisionZero pic.twitter.com/Ng4qD7CKra
— Councilor Alicia Bowman (@aliciafornewton) January 5, 2022
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Ted Faber discovers new-to-him protected bike lanes on Airport Blvd near LAX.
Correction: I initially misplaced this bike lane as being on Airport Ave in Santa Monica, but it’s actually the new protected bike lanes on LA’s Airport Blvd, which were installed last year. Thanks to LADOT’s Tim Fremaux for the correction.
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Evidently, Elon’s Musk’s vision for the future of urban transportation includes underground traffic jams.
It turns out the congestion-busting “future of transport” is already experiencing congestion. pic.twitter.com/yJY9b0Nwjj
— Adam Tranter (@adamtranter) January 6, 2022
And it looks like some things won’t change when our self-driving overlords take over.
https://twitter.com/pedaltowheels/status/1479174018280288260
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Country star Dierks Bentley is one of us, proclaiming it perfect whether for a bike ride as he pedals through Nashville’e freshly fallen snow.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
The Orange County Register once again raises a panic over a “dramatic” rise in ebike injuries, suggesting that ebikes are somehow more dangerous than other kinds of bikes, without noting what should be an obvious corresponding increase in ebike use. (Hint: Stop the page from loading before the subscription popup loads.)
Life really is cheap in the UK, where a road raging driver walked with a suspended sentence for intentionally running down a bike rider who’d slapped his car following a dangerously close pass. And kept his drivers license because the judge didn’t want him to lose his job.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Florida man was shot in the neck by his girlfriend as he tried to pedal away on his bike with her belongings; she insists that she only meant to scare him.
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Local
This is who we share the road with. A pair of scofflaw diners used their car as a weapon to intentionally run down a Redondo Beach restaurant manager who confronted them for walking out on their check.
State
The allegedly stoned San Diego driver who killed a noted architect has been ordered to stand trial in the death of Laura Shinn; Adam David Milavetz was allegedly high on meth and fentanyl when he ran down Shinn’s bike, then tossed a bag of meth over a fence before police arrived.
The recent heavy rains in Northern California have had an unexpected benefit for bike riders by delaying plans for an emergency water pipeline that would have blocked bike access to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
National
The American Business History Center offers a fascinating short history of the American bicycle industry, from the first bikes through Trek and Specialized, even if they’re not made in the US anymore.
He gets it. A writer for Slate says stop idealizing Dutch and Danish bikeways, and start explaining how and why something like that could work here.
Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a Denver-area driver who skipped a court date for the allegedly drunken crash where he dragged a boy and his bike under his SUV for a significant distance before bystanders flagged him down; they had to lift the SUV off the boy to get him out.
You’ve got to be kidding. South Dakota’s supreme court rules against a woman who was paralyzed when her bike wheel went through a poorly designed storm grate, even though the city was aware of the problem and failed to correct it.
A DC website says traffic may not be moving on the freeway, but yes, people really do ride their bikes in the winter.
A Florida distracted driver was focused on his phone for as much as 50 seconds before slamming into a bike rider and killing him; police say he is remorseful and fled the scene because “he got really scared.” Just imagine how the person he killed must have felt.
International
We Love Cycling magazine recommends the ten don’ts of e-mountain biking.
The Bicycle Film Festival has once again gone virtual, with over 40 short films available online for as little as $10.
SRAM’s CEO examines the supply chain disruptions that have created an imbalance between supply and demand in the bicycle industry, but says there really is light at the end of the tunnel.
Nice gesture from a group of English bike riders, who plan to escort the coffin of a man who died of a heart attack while on a group ride.
A British bike theft victim was victimized a second time when he found the bike being sold online and make arrangements with the men who mugged him to buy it, but the cops blew him off after promising to meet him to make the arrest and reclaim his bike.
Competitive Cycling
Slovakian cycling star Peter Sagan will miss the official unveiling of his new team and bike, after testing positive for Covid.
San Diego’s popular Belgian Waffle Ride will feature at least $30,000 in prize money when it rolls in April, with another $20,000 on the line for the four race series.
Finally…
Maybe someone should tell them it’s not a GoPro unless it’s a GoPro. When your Share the Road message is only slightly sillier than the competition you’re in.
And I’m not saying I’m old, but I remember this one from the first time around.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
