Day 42 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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We mentioned last week that a man from the UK had gone missing while mountain biking in Spain, prompting an all-out search.
Now it turns out that the victim is 50-year old US expat Matt Opperman, who has lived in Spain off-and-and on for several years, after serving as head mechanic for the Australian mountain bike team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Police concluded that Opperman, who worked for Yeti Cycles, set out on his electric mountain bike two weeks ago yesterday, after finding his black van parked in Segura de la Sierra, west of Alicante, Spain.
Family members say the father of two had planned to stay at a cabin and explore local trails, but hasn’t been seen since.
Opperman is a former resident of both Houston, Texas and Longmont, Colorado.
Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels.
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The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office held a bike safety seminar for older riders at a Palm Desert senior center, after two men in their 70s were killed while riding their bikes to start the year.
World-renowned golf photographer John Henebry, Jr., 76, was killed by a driver in Rancho Mirage on New Years Day, while 72-year old Patrick Petre died after he was fatally struck by a motorist in Palm Desert just one day later.
Which suggests that if the sheriff’s department really wants to improve safety for older bike riders, maybe they should start with a seminar on how to drive safely around people on bicycles, older or otherwise.
Because it’s not the people riding bikes who are killing people.
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Streets For All’s latest virtual happy hour will take place tomorrow, featuring newly-elected Culver City Councilmember Bubba Fish.
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NACTO says there’s a lot of new and revised rules in the latest edition of the organization’s Urban Bikeway Design Guide (click to make graphic mo’ bigger).
You know, in case you need a little light reading.
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Local
Transportation For America says the opening of the LAX/Metro Transit Center Station will be a key step in preparing Los Angeles to host a carfree 2028 Olympic Games, along with a planned 28-mile-long — or maybe 22-mile — zero-emissions, non-vehicular “Festive Trail” linking the major venues currently proposed for the 2028 Games.
State
Escondido cops wrote 68 traffic tickets in that city’s latest crackdown on violations that can endanger bicyclists and pedestrians, but didn’t break down how many of those tickets went to bike riders, walkers or motorists.
National
A writer for conservative The Federalist says New Urbanism is just a left-wing assault on property rights and personal mobility, and the future of America isn’t a “high-density…nightmare,” but “spacious, family-friendly suburbs where liberty thrives.” Sure, let’s go with that.
In a scenario many Los Angeles bike riders can relate to, a Honolulu bike path has “bumps (that) make bike rides feel more like bull rides” due to ridges and cracks in the pavement caused by tree roots.
Seattle is adding a protected bike lane and pedestrian improvements to a short, two-block street segment connecting a pair of waterfront parks, although stopping short of fully pedestrianizing the street.
Even 5th graders get it. An elementary student in the tiny mountain town of Eagle, Colorado — not far from the famed Vail ski resort — calls for a bike path to replace a popular, but dangerous riding route on a local roadway to improve safety and reduce injuries.
Anti-urbanist President Trump is reportedly in talks with New York’s governor to not only get rid of New York City’s successful congestion pricing program, but also rip out the city’s bike lanes, which have improved safety for everyone. Although it’s questionable what authority he has to force their removal on state and local roadways, but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone these days.
New York takes another dramatic step to slow traffic by installing a “green wave” on a 36-block stretch of Third Ave, where traffic signals that had been timed for vehicles traveling 25 mph have been reset for a 15 mph, allowing bicyclists — not drivers — to travel without stopping.
Even motor-centric Daytona Beach, Florida is getting buffered bike lanes on the state’s coastal highway, as part of a $10 million resurfacing project.
A writer for the University of South Florida takes a look at the bike scene in St. Petersburg.
International
Momentum offers a Valentines Day list of “10 enticing ideas to ignite your passion for both cycling and romance.”
Life is cheap in Ireland, where a 62-year old man, who had faced up to ten years behind bars for running a red light and killing an eight-year old boy riding a bicycle, was sentenced to just three years in jail, with one suspended, after the judge considered mitigating factors; the boy’s father says he will never get over the “violence of the impact.”
A new Dutch study shows that promoting bicycling can help create more compact cities, while eliminating bicycle infrastructure increases commuting times and distances and exacerbates traffic congestion, while resulting in a significant reduction in worker welfare.
India’s Supreme Court ruled that cities can’t be required to build protected bike lanes, when the government has trouble providing even basic amenities like housing and hospitals.
Competitive Cycling
World road champ Tadej Pogačar may be ready to take on the famed cobbles of the Hell of the North, after he was filmed on a Paris-Roubaix-themed training ride.
Finally…
Even bank branches are victims of hit-and-run drivers. Lead a tank into battle on a bicycle, and somehow you’re a laughing stock instead of a hero.
And your next bike could have self-charging shifting and solar-powered brakes.
Okay, maybe not the next one. Or the one after that, even.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
