Tag Archive for Metro

Newsom keeps Forest Lawn Drive deadly, Kings County judge gets lousy misdemeanor, and Metro find $1 million under cushions for open streets

September 21, 2026 / / No comments

May you have an easy fast for all marking the Day of Atonement today. 

And Jewish or not, we all have something to atone for. 

……….

Good news and bad from Sacramento.

On the good side, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ AB 2168.

The bill, which was sponsored by Calbike, is designed to strengthens California’s Active Transportation Program by improving how bicycle and pedestrian projects are chosen and funded, to deliver more connected, accessible walking and biking networks

The bad news is that Newsom also signed SB 194, a last-minute, apparently lobbyist-written bill enabling the state to interfere on behalf of a couple of wealthy cemeteries to keep Forest Lawn Drive deadly. The new law in designed to make it much harder to implement a shovel-ready Complete Streets plan that was supposed to start earlier this year.

Newsom should have had the integrity to veto the law, which was so narrowly written that Forest Lawn Drive is the only street in the entire state it applies to.

Then there’s this response to Street For All’s original tweet. Which tells you a lot about the kind of people we’re dealing with here.

Twitter post

………

Life is cheap in Kings County, where County Superior Court Judge Kendra Weber was charged with a lousy misdemeanor, without gross negligence, for killing a 63-year old man riding a bicycle last year.

Weber allegedly hit him from behind after failing to give a safe passing distance.

Yet somehow, the California Attorney General’s office doesn’t even have the decency to mention the victim’s name. But I suppose we should probably just be grateful a judge was charge at all.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

………

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton visits new protected bike lanes in Griffith Park, Hollywood and Arcadia. And writes that Metro has identified $1 million in unspent funds that can be devoted to funding open streets next year.

Metro had zeroed out any funding for open streets events that were not directly tied to this year’s World Cup and the ’28 Los Angeles Olympics, but Supervisor Lindsey Horvath insisted they find some money for next year, later joined by LA Mayor Karen Bass as she struggles for re-election.

Although that amount of funding will cover just two to three events. But that’s better than nothing. Hopefully other sponsors will step up to host more events.

Speaking of which, CicLAvia will return to the popular Heart of LA event in DTLA, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, Echo Park and the Arts District on October 11th. And the Santa Barbara website that brought it up even has the good taste to illustrate the story with a photo of a corgi.

………

WeHo Online talks with the attorney representing the family of fallen bicyclist Blake Ackerman in their lawsuit against the city.

And it’s definitely worth taking a few minutes to read the lengthy piece. Take this brief segment, as the city takes the classic defense tactic of blaming the city, and/or claiming Ackerman’s death was an act of God.

The lawsuit isn’t claiming West Hollywood should have somehow predicted the event. It argues the City knew Fountain was dangerous, said so repeatedly and still did not make the changes it had been considering for years.

“They’ve become local experts since losing their son,” Gammill said of the family. “When things feel avoidable, preventable, it’s harder to swallow.”

“If lightning strikes, that’s just a fact of life. But when it’s not so much a lightning strike and it feels more like somebody left a live electrical cord laying out, that’s just harder to swallow.”

In other words, it may not be their fault that a hit-and-run driver plowed into Ackerman’s bicycle at Fountain and Gardner. But it is their fault that they’ve known for years, if not decades, how dangerous the street is and did nothing to make it safer.

That’s the unforgivable part.

And I will go to my grave blaming myself for not fighting harder to hold the city to account, before it was too late.

………

Speaking of the need for atonement, there’s not a pit in hell deep enough for the 23-year old Irvine man who struck a man in a wheelchair in Long Beach, and left him there in the crosswalk to die.

Allegedly.

Ethan Chung was booked on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter. He was apparently arrest later the same day, following the crash at 12:35 am Friday.

………

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

No bias here. A driver gets angry with a bike rider for not using an expensive new bike lane — even though the work isn’t finished and it’s not even obvious what it is yet.

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

A Singapore teenager has been charged with a rash act causing death after the 16-year old boy crashed his bike into a 74-year pedestrian, killing the man.

………

Local 

Pasadena’s new biking and walking plan is now open for comments, with a goal of achieving zero traffic deaths. In other words, Vision Zero by any other name.

The Crescenta Valley Weekly looks at last week’s call for Los Angeles to declare a traffic violence state of emergency, which seems to have fallen on the usual deaf ears at the city council and mayor’s office. After all, you don’t want to piss off driving voters in an election year just to save a few hundred lives. 

 

State

A 20-year old Orange County man was the first in line to return his ebike at the OC DA’s recent ebike buyback event, after spending months on life support following a crash.

A Helendale man was arrested in Irvine with a stolen bike and an outstanding felony warrant from Riverside County, but faces only 6 months in county and a $1,000 fine unless the bike turns out to have a value over $950.

The San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG, is building seven bikeway projects totaling 21 miles, annoying at least some drivers in the process. On the other hand, SANDAG followed LA’s lead in returning $17.1 million in unspent Active Transportation funds for four projects after they couldn’t meet state deadlines. Except Los Angeles had to give back over $100 million.

A large group of San Diego bicyclists turned out on Saturday riding everything from pedal bikes and mountain bikes to dirt bikes to honor 14-year old Owen Harris after the boy was killed by a driver while riding his ebike in Pacific Beach last weekend.

A bike rider in Ventura suffered “significant” injuries when they were struck by a driver on Telegraph Road Friday. But the local paper doesn’t want you to know about it, hiding the story behind a paywall, even though it’s likely based on a public report from the city police.

Palo Alto will be moving forward with a pair of long-delayed bicycle projects.

A paywalled story from the San Francisco Standard looks at the city’s alt-cycling movement, described as “an anti-optimized ethos” emerging “from ‘broke people riding old mountain bikes’,” exemplified by a ‘zine called Calling In Sick. Or as it’s called anywhere else, just normal people riding cheap bikes.

 

National

Life is cheap in Tucson, Arizona, where a driver faces another lousy misdemeanor for killing a bike rider in a left-cross collision.

He — or maybe she — gets it. A Salt Lake City letter writer says whether acting as a bicyclist, pedestrian or diver, their safety depends on whether the road itself is poorly planned, or others on the road are acting unsafely.

Great idea. An Oklahoma bike tour took riders through some of the state’s historic Black communities over the weekend.

In a touching story, a group of bicyclists in College Station, Texas rode Saturday to remember Kerry Snow-Alley, a 47-year old woman who refused to let her stage 4 breast cancer define her, describing her as “a beast” on her bike but adding “Off the bike, she was generous, relentlessly positive, and the kind of person who quietly showed up for the people around her;” she died from the disease September 10th.

Two residents of a Wisconsin religious mission rode through rain, chilly temperatures and steep hills yesterday on a 101-mile bike ride to “celebrate their sobriety, express their faith and raise awareness for the program that helped them turn their lives around.”

It only took 30 years, but Minnesota finally finished a 165-mile bike path, one of the longest paved bike trails in the US.

A kindhearted Indiana cop dug into his own pocket to buy a kid a new bike, after the boy got stiffed for a grass cutting job.

Tragic news from New York’s East Village, where a 15-year old girl was killed by the driver of a garbage truck while sharing a bikeshare bike with a 16-year old companion; she appeared to be riding in the handlebar basket when the 57-year old driver hit them both while they were riding in a crosswalk.

Gothamist offers a look at plans for New York’s re-imagined Park Avenue, which will finally be more of one.

A Georgia man ‘fessed up to shooting another man in an argument over the victim’s bicycle, but there’s no word on why they were fighting about it. Regardless, there is no bicycle on Earth that’s worth a human life. Just let it go, already. 

 

International

A Canadian woman became an advocate for safer streets after her husband was killed riding his bicycle; 20 years later, she’s still honoring his legacy by working to keep us all safer. The sad thing is that she still has to do, because 20 years later things still haven’t improved.

An English woman was knocked off her bicycle by a legally blind driver, suffering a broken leg, heel and several toes, as well as lacerations and a fractured elbow, because the man “forgot” to put on his glasses before getting behind the wheel.

The co-chair of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh’s air pollution working group is now advising Scottish bicyclists to wear close-fitting masks when they ride, arguing that bike riders “hugely increased” their intake of such pollutants compared to drivers and walkers by breathing more heavily. Although another study showed that drivers breathe in much more pollutants than bicyclists, because the smog gets trapped inside their cars.

The co-founder of British fashion brand Mint Velvet remembers how she “just crumbled” when she learned her son wouldn’t survive after being struck by a driver while riding his bike ten years ago.

Four out of five Dutch bicyclists say they feel less safe now sharing bikeways with fat bikes and ebikes.

Now we know what killed 36-year old German ultracyclist Max Riese, who crashed into a deer on a high-speed descent near his home in Salzburg, Austria. 

Our old friends Melissa and Chris Bruntlett, now Dutch-based authors and mobility experts, visit Estonia and observe both the progress, and lack thereof, in the country’s two largest cities.

Istanbul’s Visa Maximiles Black L’Etape Türkiye by Tour de France 2026 gave riders the rare opportunity to through two continents on a single 20 to 60 mile route. Although it probably takes longer to say the name than it would to ride the short course. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser threw herself a party for her 36th birthday by winning a second-consecutive women’s elite time trial world title on Sunday. Meanwhile, Remco Evenepoel doubled Reusser’s record, making it four in a row by taking the men’s world time trial title, also on Sunday.

 

Finally…

Now you can own the only three-wheeled e-car prototype built before ebike maker SONDORS gave up on the project. Lime is now willing to rat you out to the cops if you misbehave.

And no, there’s no hypocrisy at all in demanding that bike riders pay a tax for using roads, when owing the government $20 million in unpaid taxes and fees.

Why do you ask?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Building bike lane straw men to knock them down, judge denies Vermont injunction, and CicLAvia connects Expo and Leimert Parks

June 26, 2026 / / Comments Off on Building bike lane straw men to knock them down, judge denies Vermont injunction, and CicLAvia connects Expo and Leimert Parks

Oh, me?

I was just hard at work Wednesday night, and fell asleep at my keyboard sometime around 2 am. 

When I woke up, I found a screenful of random, nonsensical letters and spaces. And since it made more sense than anything else I’d written all night, I gave up and go to bed.

Image by HANSUAN FABREGAS from Pixabay.

………

Nope. No bias here.

A Larchmont op-ed writer creates his very own straw men to refute the argument that Los Angeles can be another Amsterdam. And, not surprisingly, very effectively knocks them down.

Except no one I know expects Los Angeles to be another Amsterdam, unless it’s West Hollywood’s plan to dominate the city’s demand for legal weed.

We just want a city where you have reasonable, safe choices on how to get from here to there, and aren’t forced into a car by default.

According to the writer, Joe Vein,

Supporters of expanded bike infrastructure often respond with examples such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or Paris. They are correct to do so. These cities have achieved remarkable success in increasing bicycle use. But acknowledging that success is not the same as concluding that L.A. can replicate it.

Amsterdam occupies roughly 85 square miles. Paris covers approximately 41 square miles. Los Angeles spans nearly 470 square miles and sits at the center of a metropolitan region approaching 13 million residents. More importantly, L.A. County does not function around a single urban core. It operates as a network of major employment centers including downtown, Century City, Santa Monica, Burbank, Pasadena, Culver City, El Segundo, Long Beach, and many others.

Oddly, most advocates of alternative transportation are acutely aware of what kind of city we live in, since we’re often the ones who don’t traverse it in a hermetically sealed vehicle, with the windows rolled up and entertainment system on, without stopping until the GPS says “You’ve arrived at your destination.

We know that far too many people are forced to live far from their jobs. Or choose to, so they can go home to a manicured little suburb with its own police department, and pretend that Mayberry wasn’t just a show runner’s dream.

We also know that most trips in LA County are three miles or less, which can easily be done by bus, bicycle or ebike, or even walking if you’re in semi-decent shape.

Again, according to Vein,

Supporters also frequently cite UCLA research suggesting that some road diets produce less congestion than traditional traffic models predict. However, the research examines whether specific corridors under specific conditions can be redesigned successfully. It does not conclude that all road diets are beneficial. It does not establish that parking reductions are harmless. It does not evaluate impacts on local businesses, deliveries, service vehicles, emergency access, or regional commuting patterns. Most importantly, it does not answer the broader question of whether enough residents will ultimately switch transportation modes to justify the costs.

Actually, I prefer to rely on the US Department of Transportation, even in the Trump era.

A classic Road Diet typically involves converting an existing four-lane, undivided roadway segment to a three-lane segment consisting of two through lanes and a center, two-way left-turn lane.

The resulting benefits include a crash reduction of 19 to 47 percent, reduced vehicle speed differential, improved mobility and access by all road users, and integration of the roadway into surrounding uses that results in an enhanced quality of life. A key feature of a Road Diet is that it allows reclaimed space to be allocated for other uses, such as turn lanes, bus lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, bike lanes, sidewalks, bus shelters, parking or landscaping.

Why consider a Road Diet? Four-lane undivided highways experience relatively high crash frequencies — especially as traffic volumes and turning movements increase over time — resulting in conflicts between high-speed through traffic, left-turning vehicles and other road users. FHWA has deemed Road Diets a proven safety countermeasure and promotes them as a safety-focused design alternative to a traditional four-lane, undivided roadway. Road Diet-related crash modification factors are also available for use in safety countermeasure benefit-cost analysis.

I don’t see anything there about enough people switching their mode of transportation to justify the costs. Although I suppose a significant reduction in collisions, and the resulting auto and bodily injuries, possibly could.

Supporters of Measure Healthy Streets L.A., an approved citizen-led ballot measure that mandates safer infrastructure whenever L.A. performs street improvements, often argue that voters have already settled this debate. I disagree. HLA passed and is now the law, but passage of a ballot measure does not transform a policy into a proven success. California has a long history of adopting complex policies through initiatives, often based on compelling slogans and campaign messaging rather than detailed analysis of long-term consequences. Whether one agrees or disagrees with measures such as Proposition 13 (the limits on property taxes statewide in California), it is difficult to dispute that ballot initiatives can produce effects that are not fully understood at the time they are approved.

The proper response to HLA is continued scrutiny—not blind opposition, but certainly not blind acceptance either. Policymakers and residents should continue asking whether the assumptions underlying the measure are sound before irreversible changes are made.

Actually, HLA it wasn’t just voter approved. It was approved by a two-thirds majority.

Which doesn’t mean that two-thirds of Angelo voters are right, and we will seamlessly transition to a multimodal city. But it does mean that two-thirds of Angelenos want to see that change.

And yes, while Vein does skillfully dispatch another straw man, the proper response to any change in policy is continued scrutiny.

Like the change in policy that took Los Angeles from a city with the world’s best private transit systems, to the car-dominated hellscape we live in today. Unless, of course, you’re privileged to live behind one of those nice, quiet, well-manicured lawns of Larchmont.

This city has transformed many times over. From horses and buggies, to bicycles, to the Red and Yellow Cars, to automobiles.

And it’s hard to deny that the last one has failed, as the roads continue to get more crowded and cramped, with no room left to expand, and innocent people get killed and maimed just trying to cross the street or get home from work.

The automotive hegemony of Los Angeles is a failure, by virtually every measure. Yet the people of Los Angeles didn’t vote to get rid of cars. They voted to give themselves an alternative.

Let me be clear: this is not an anti-bike argument. I support cycling. I support recreational riding. I support safer streets. I support targeted bike infrastructure where it makes practical sense. What I question is the assumption that L.A. can or should become Amsterdam simply because Amsterdam has succeeded.

Good for you, Mr. Vein. I’m sure you make your mama proud.

But the people who voted for Measure HLA, and who support those bike lanes and road diets — and bus lanes, and sidewalks, and crosswalks — don’t want to build another Amsterdam.

If we wanted to live in Amsterdam, we’d move there.

We just want our Los Angeles to be the best version of Los Angeles. Is that really too much to ask?

………

So far, it’s Metro 3, Linton 0.

LAist is reporting that the judge hearing Linton’s lawsuit against Metro and Los Angeles for violating the terms of Measure HLA — there’s that term again — in redesigning the Vermont corridor denied a request for a preliminary injunction, ruling that the work can go forward for now.

Sans the bike lanes that the city’s mobility plan calls for, and which Measure HLA requires — if it’s a city project, as Linton argues, and not just a Metro project, as Metro and the city insist. Although the latter just seems like a blatant attempt to skirt the law.

According to LAist,

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Kristin Escalante denied the request on June 15. Escalante wrote in her decision that the city neither initiated the project nor selected Vermont Avenue for resurfacing and won’t be constructing the project itself.

“Metro’s coordination with the city does not transform the project into one made by or undertaken by the city,” Escalante wrote in her decision.

In April and June, Escalante denied Linton’s requests for pre-trial judgement on two other issues in his lawsuit, including deciding if resurfacing work on Vermont Avenue service roads triggered HLA-mandated upgrades and determining whether the city’s HLA ordinance represents an “impermissible amendment” of the ordinance.

That does not mean, however, that Linton has lost. It just means that the case will now go to trial.

Kind of like the US loss to Turkey in the World Cup last night. Yes, the US lost on a last minute goal, but they will go on to the next round anyway, and have a chance to prove they can win.

So too, will Joe Linton, on our behalf.

……….

Don’t forget Sunday’s Leimert Park meets Expo Park CicLAvia.

Twitter post

Meanwhile, Bike Long Beach is hosting a feeder ride to CicLAvia on Sunday.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A bill that would have required speed limiting technology in all new cars was vetoed by Governor Newsom, who ironically doesn’t like governors, at least when it comes to speed.

California Assembly Bill (AB) 2276, which would have required speed limiting technology only for chronic reckless drivers, died in the Appropriations Committee, at least for this year.

Twitter post

………

While he’s not a sponsor here — and should probably reconsider that — attorney James Johnson has long been a friend of this site, often pointing me to stories I might not have heard about yet. Or at all.

Today he discusses the problem of dooring, which is one of the most common types of bicycling crashes, after a bike rider was doored in Felton.

And yes, I had to look up where the hell that is.

Twitter post

………

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

An Indiana University staffer is in hot water for getting out of her car at an intersection, and pointing a laser-sighted gun at a group of people on bicycles; she insisted she’d been in fear for her safety, claiming the boys on bikes had “surrounded her,” even though witnesses reported the bike riders had waited patiently behind her SUV at the red light, and “had not been causing any issue.”

A Minneapolis bike rider rides up a ramp to discuss illegal parking in the bike lane. And you have no idea how many times I’ve been tempted to do that myself.

Twitter post

No bias here. A New York lawsuit attempts to force the city to return to a policy of issuing criminal citations to scofflaw ebike riders, even though infractions by drivers only result in a traffic ticket. I’m actually fine with that, as long as lawbreaking drivers have to appear in criminal court, too.

Ireland’s Sinn Féin political party has come out against a Safe Routes to Schools project, teaming with a local councillor who insists he’s not anti-bike, and a local coal supplier who warns “there could be a bike lane outside your own door next. There’s a lot to unpack here, starting with a local elected official who supports bikes while opposing bike projects, and a coal supplier(!) warning about bike lanes. And clearly, Sinn Féin ain’t what it used to be, for better and for worse. 

Moving north, a group of 21 Belfast, Northern Ireland residents met to “unanimously” oppose plans for a protected bike lane, due to the possible loss of a small number of trees that “survived the Blitz and the Troubles” and are ‘full of goldfinches,” as well as losing parking spaces in front of the local Airbnbs.

………

Local 

A new LADOT survey wants your input on how to improve access to Dodger Stadium. How about a subway stop — or at least a damn people mover — from Union Station?

Calbike says the 5.5-mile Rail-to-Rail Active Transportation Corridor through South Los Angeles and Inglewood is an example of what California’s Active Transportation Program can make possible — if it is adequately supported and funded.

A bike rider in Palos Verdes Estates learned the hard way that if you’re carrying meth, drug paraphernalia and someone else’s financial card on your bike, stop for the damn stop sign, already. Thanks to Jim for the heads-up.

 

State

Speaking of Calbike, they have some new T-shirts and other assorted merch that definitely doesn’t suck.

Let’s thank the Orange Police Department for making it clear that their motorcycle cop was chasing a 13-year old kid on an e-motorcycle and not an ebike, as the officer’s bodycam picked up his play-by-play commentary of the chase.

Encinitas will spend $3.5 million to rip out a protected bike lane that was completed just last year, in a race to beat new state legislation that would require the same level of study to remove a bike lane as there was to build it.

Nine months after Chula Vista’s ebike ordinance went into effect, residents are questioning whether an average of just two citations a month is really a sufficient crackdown on scofflaw teen e-moto riders.

Congratulations, San Diego, you’re getting your very own edition of Streetsblog on July 27th — but now they need your help to make it a reality. Although you’ll have to find your own Joe Linton, ’cause we ain’t giving him up. 

Speaking of San Diego, the East Village Association has lost two-thirds of it’s budget due to a loss of parking revenue — not because of bike lanes, but because the city decided not to share its parking revenue with community parking districts anymore. But someone will inevitably find a way to blame bikes, anyway. 

Oakland’s iconic scraper bikes are back, if they ever went away.

Sacramento will host a two-day Clean Mobility Forum focused on shared mobility and equitable clean transportation at the end of September; CARB is one of the sponsors, so give ’em hell about killing the California Ebike Incentive Program.

 

National

PeopleForBikes new city rankings finds that small towns are leading the fight for bikeability. Which only makes sense, since it’s easier to make a profound change with less effort and expenditure in a small town than a big city.

Bike riders in Cheyenne, Wyoming celebrated Bike to Work Week, with city leaders citing a strong bike culture going back to the ’70s. Look, I’ll believe things have really changed in the city, where cowboys used to threaten to kick my ass just for riding a bike, when they add a bike rodeo to the Cheyenne Frontier Days. 

Hats off to a Denver-area firefighter who rode an ebike with a dead battery back to the fire station after its owner suffered a medical emergency.

A Texas man did the right thing, and turned himself in for the distracted driving crash that killed a 16-year old boy and severely injured his younger sister as they were riding their bikes — and he only waited four and a half months to do it.

A Minneapolis driver faces a pair of criminal vehicular homicide counts for killing a bike rider while a) on the unholy trinity of alcohol, coke and weed, while also b) speeding and c) driving distracted.

The Chicago Courrier Classic revives ancient alleycat tradition to prove bike messenger culture refuses to die. No matter how hard drivers try to kill it. And them. 

In a surprising move, conservative Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have imposed a 10 mph speed limit for ebike riders within 50 feet of pedestrians, saying it would be hard to enforce (true) and lead to increased surveillance by local governments.

 

International

A 31-year old “deeply selfish” British man was sentenced to nine years behind bars for killing a retired math teacher riding a bicycle in a head-on crash, while 16-times over the legal limit for cocaine. And yes, the UK has a legal limit for coke.

Here’s one for your bike bucket list. A new 205-mile gravel route in southwest Scotland connects Dumfries and Galloway through a series of three interconnected loops. Let’s see Gravel Bike California make a video about that one. 

Dublin, Ireland’s monthly Critical Mass Ride will turn into a music-filled pre-Pride Ride tonight.

The Eurobike trade show will move to a biannual basis following the 2027 show, after it lost a number of major exhibitors.

 

Competitive Cycling

Likely Tour de France competitors are dropping like flies, as the Visma-Lease a Bike team says Edoardo Affini ‘will be monitored’ after he was taken away by ambulance following a high-speed crash at the Italian Road Championships.

Not only did ultra-endurance cyclist Victor Bosoni smash the existing record to win the Tour Divide, he finished two days ahead of second-place Laurens Ten Dam, even sleeping eight hours a night; he broke the record by a whopping 11 hours, finishing in 11 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own an Eddy Merckx team bike that was definitely not ridden by Eddy Merckx. You can be replaced by a self-riding bicycle robot capable of an unassisted acrobatic front flip. Pinarello is now haute couture.

And clearly, bike lanes and sex workers don’t mix.

Voulez-vous coucher a vélo ce soir ?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

Strike one in Linton’s Measure HLA lawsuit, and driver charged in Long Beach hit-and-run death of Lori Ann Carreon

April 16, 2026 / / Comments Off on Strike one in Linton’s Measure HLA lawsuit, and driver charged in Long Beach hit-and-run death of Lori Ann Carreon

Sorry for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

I was pretty out of it from the effects of my meds Tuesday night — don’t even ask me how many tranquilizing pharmaceutical I take on a daily basis — and facing an early medical appointment yesterday. 

So like Brave Sir Robin, I bravely gave up and ran away to get some sleep. 

I’m just glad I’m not driving these days. And so is everyone else, whether or not they know it. 

Today’s photo is a bike coral outside a building on 3rd Street in West Hollywood.

And while I appreciate the gesture, the racks are so close to the building they’re virtually useless, allowing you to lock up the wheel of your choice, while thieves make off with the rest of your bike. 

………

Christopher Bryant was formally arraigned for the hit-and-run death of 54-year old occupational therapist Lori Ann Carreon as she rode bike back to her home in Long Beach’s Bluff Park neighborhood.

The 40-year old Bryant was charged with felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, hit-and-run resulting in death and reckless driving.

Prosecutors allege he ran a stop sign at Second Street and Redondo Avenue on Feb. 7, then sped away without stopping. Bryant turned himself in three days later, after calling the police dispatcher the next day to confess, giving himself plenty of time to sober up.

If he was under the influence, that is, which he hasn’t been accused of.

Bryant was released on a mere $50,000 bond. Once again demonstrating just how un-seriously the courts take traffic crime.

………

That’s strike one in Joe Linton’s lawsuit against Metro and Los Angeles, alleging the transit agency violated Measure HLA by leaving out the bike lanes promised under the mobility plan from the semi-Complete Street makeover of the Vermont Ave corridor.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled against the administrative portion of Linton’s three-part lawsuit, dismissing the allegation that the city’s HLA ordinance undermines HLA as passed by voters.

However, that still leaves the main part of his suit standing, alleging that Past Vermont Avenue service road resurfacing should have triggered HLA, and that future Vermont Avenue bus (BRT) improvements should trigger HLA.

Here is how he explains it.

Chunks 1 and 2, if I win, will result in on-the-ground changes on Vermont Avenue. Chunk 3 is basically about the city’s ordinance (approved in 2025) that specifies the internal processes to administer HLA: who can appeal, when, how. When HLA was approved by voters it did not specify a deadline for when an individual could file an HLA lawsuit against the city, so people effectively had three years to file a lawsuit when a city project appears to not comply with HLA. Under the ordinance, people now have 30 days to file a city-level appeal, then if that appeal is denied (to date the city Board of Public Works has fully denied 22 of 24 appeals, and partially approved just two – conceding HLA was triggered but denying new bike and walk infrastructure), the appellant has only six months to file a lawsuit.

The city ordinance restricts HLA lawsuits; only people who appeal a project in the first 30 days can file a lawsuit later.

If the whole damn thing is hard to understand, I think that’s part of the point. The city process was written to make it hard to file an appeal, and even harder to file a lawsuit under the city’s interpretation of the measure.

So let’s all give Linton a round of thanks for undertaking this process, and fighting a process that most of us can’t even understand.

Or maybe it’s just me.

………

A winded Cincinnati cop tries, and fails, to catch a scofflaw on a bicycle, in a battle royal caught on video.

………

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

San Diego’s mayor suggested balancing the budget on the backs of bike riders, cutting a number of proposed bike projects to address the city’s red ink.

A British letter writer calls for license plates and charging “road tax” — which no longer exists in the country — to “either moronic, uncaring or uneducated cyclists.” So if you don’t fit in any of those categories, carry on, evidently.

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

You’ve got to be kidding. A Florida woman was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a couple beer bottles at a toddler who kindly came over to check on her after she fell off her bike; she told sheriff’s deputies that she thought she was being attacked. Yes, by a toddler.

A Polish bike thief tried to make his getaway by joining a breakaway, attempting to escape the cops by blending in with the peloton in a local bike race — then standing out by catching, and briefly joining, the leaders.

………

Local 

Los Angeles is considering a ban on ebikes on all equestrian, hiking and recreational trails, allowing them only on paths specifically intended for bicycling. And as usual, they seem to be lumping all ebikes together, from ped-assist bicycles to illegal dirt bikes.

West Hollywood Sheriff’s deputies will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian traffic safety operation from 5 am to 3 pm on Monday, ticketing any violation that could put anyone in either group at risk, regardless of who commits it. Which is the definition of a legal traffic operation, without biased enforcement. 

You may not be able to ride a bike with LA’s ostensibly bike-riding mayor, but Saturday you can ride with the mayor of Culver City to mark Earth Month.

A Portland, Oregon man is making a second attempt to complete a 1,320-mile ride down the Pacific Coast, five years after he was nearly killed by a Los Angeles driver, leaving him with a broken leg, shoulder, 10 broken ribs and punctured lungs; a crowdfunding campaign has raised less than $500 of the modest $1,300 goal to pay for expenses.

 

State

Calbike applauds California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s efforts to alert consumers to the difference between legal ebikes and faster, and somewhat less legal, e-motorbikes, but says now we need some actual enforcement.

A 14-year old boy was seriously injured when he was left-crossed by a driver in the Encanto area of San Diego, suffering a broken ankle, brain bleeds and other injuries. Although someone should tell San Diego’s Fox 5 News that a dirt bike is not a bicycle.

A 77-year old man was seriously injured when he fell off his ebike in San Diego’s Oak Park neighborhood, and struck his helmetless head on the pavement.

La Mesa will honor basketball Hall of Famer and noted bicyclist Bill Walton by naming an honorary street near his old high school after him. Because they certainly wouldn’t want to go to the trouble of actually renaming an actual street or anything. 

Fresno County residents turned in over 30,000 signatures to qualify the “Better Roads, Safe Streets” measure for the county ballot, which would increase the sales tax by half a percent, dedicating 65% to fixing local roads, 25% for public transit, 4% for innovative transportation and 5% to regional projects, including the Fresno airport; it would also commit to building 120 miles of bike lanes.

A San Francisco driver was caught on video pulling his Mercedes out from the curb cutting off a bike rider, then zooming to the corner and right-hooking a man riding a bicycle in the parking-protected bike lane — and then just keeps on going, leaving the victim lying in the street.

Scraper bikes are still a thing in Oakland. But apparently, only if you’re in Oakland.

Caltrans has lowered the speed limit from 55 mph to 45 mph on a five-mile stretch of PCH in Monterey County to improve safety. Which makes you wonder why they can’t do the same thing in Malibu, where the casualty count continues to rise. 

Sad news from ostensibly bike-friendly Davis, where a 20-year old UC Davis student was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle near campus.

 

National

Tune in, turn on and ride a “gorgeous” bike in honor of Albert Hoffman on Bicycle Day this Sunday.

Seattle will host an open streets event nearly every weekend this summer, banning cars from the city’s Lake Washington Blvd from Friday evening to Monday morning every weekend but one, from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

No, you don’t have to press the pedestrian button anymore at one Fayetteville, Arkansas intersection.

A Vanderbilt University survey shows that 71% of Nashville residents are in favor of more bike lanes.

Tragic news from Cape Cod, where an 86-year old man was killed by the driver of a box truck while riding a bicycle. Anyone still riding a bike at that age deserves better. Then again, so does anyone else. 

New York proposes a crosstown, river-to-rive protected bike lane, connecting key bikeways in Manhattan.

A New Orleans letter writer calls for curb-protected bike lanes to protect riders from dangerous drivers — and says people from outside the city can sue the city for more than $75,000 for dangerous roadway design if they’re injured biking on city streets, which could force the city to do something.

A Florida man is accused of driving over 80 mph with a BAC over twice the legal limit when he struck and killed a 31-year old man riding a bicycle last July; he faces a charge of DUI manslaughter.

 

International

This is who we share the road with. A 19-year old Ontario man offered a passenger in his truck $100,000 to lie for him, and claim they were behind the wheel when he killed someone on an ebike after drinking.

Almost 81,000 people went to the ER in the Netherlands due to bicycling crashes last year, up 25% from a decade ago.

A German writer gets pulled over in Switzerland for using his cellphone while riding and letting his nine-year old son ride a bike in the street, without actually ever getting pulled over.

Delhi, Dhaka and Accra, India are building bike lanes for the people they want to encourage to ride bicycles in wealthier areas, rather than protecting the low-income people who already do.

No more holding an umbrella while you ride in Japan, although it will only cost you the equivalent of 31 bucks.

South Australia’s top traffic cop is facing an internal police investigation for the crime of taking a selfie while riding on a suburban street, and posting it to his Strava account. Which is apparently a no-no Down Under. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-three-year old Spanish cyclist Jaume Guardeno remains in critical condition in intensive care, two weeks after he was struck by a driver while on a training ride following March’s Volta a Catalunya stage race; he had been on track to lead his Caja-Rural cycling team in the Tour de France.

Cycling scion Taylor Phinney may have been out of the game for a few years, but he’s planning to make a comeback in track cycling for the ’28 LA Olympics, aiming for team pursuit.

A 27-year old Utah special ed teacher has made the rare transition from Indiana University’s Little 500 to a wild card entry at this year’s Life Time Grand Prix series, starting with this week’s Sea Otter Classic gravel race.

 

Finally…

The surprising joys of getting ‘bent. Your next bike could be a Ralph Lauren — as long as you don’t mind riding downhill on level ground.

And now you, too, can have your very own slightly worn yellow jersey.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

2nd lawsuit filed over LA HLA failures, changing “accident” on death certificates, and 14-year old DUI driver kills bike rider

April 9, 2026 / / 2 comments

No surprise here.

The Los Angeles City Board of Public Works heard another three Measure HLA appeals filed by Joe Linton.

And all three were denied, naturally.

Here’s is how Linton described the appeals.

  1. Hyperion Avenue – As part of installing speed tables, LADOT reconfigured striping making Hyperion Avenue. This moved cars a couple feet further to the right, where cyclists ride, making the street even less safe for bicycling. I content that this reconfiguration triggers bike lanes and accessibility improvements approved in the city’s 2015 Mobility Plan. The city contends [staff report] that the reconfiguration was “restriping without other improvements” and therefore did not trigger HLA.
  2. Vernon Avenue – As part of a peak-hour lane removal project (my reporting on similar projects), the city added more than a mile of new parking on Vernon Avenue. I contend that this project triggered HLA bus/walk/access upgrades. The city contends [staff report] the reconfiguration was “restriping without other improvements” and therefore did not trigger HLA.
  3. Terra Bella Street – As part of a Metro-L.A. City light rail project, the city is working with Metro to remove Van Nuys Boulevard bike lanes and add partial bike lanes on Terra Bella Street as a replacement. The city plans omit the block of bike lanes closest to the new light rail station. I contend that the Terra Bella bike lanes trigger HLA, and that the city should proceed with the full planned extent, not dropping the bike lanes next to the station. The city contends [staff report] that the Terra Bella bike lanes do not trigger HLA because the city plans to slurry seal the street before making modifications.

The denial of the appeals means Linton can, at his discretion, file a lawsuit to force the city to comply.

He has already filed one lawsuit against Metro for failing to include the bike lanes required by HLA in the Vermont Avenue Bus Lane project; HLA requires the city to build out projects included in the city’s mobility plan whenever significant road work takes place.

And reworking the entire Vermont corridor would seem to be significant.

Or rather, make that two.

Because Linton filed a second HLA lawsuit yesterday.

This time he’s going after the city for using numerous loopholes to avoid complying with the requirements of HLA — including LA Street Services ridiculous invention of the term “Large Asphalt Repair.”

That’s the city’s term for avoiding repaving projects that would trigger HLA, as well as requiring the installation of curb cuts to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

To the best of my knowledge, no other city in the world uses the term Large Asphalt Repair. Or would have the temerity to.

The new lawsuit alleges a number of violations, including, according to Linton,

  1. Cesar Chavez Avenue/Sunset Boulevard (Figueroa Street to Alameda Street): Announced city project would follow a community plan updated after HLA cut-off; the announced version includes unprotected bike lanes, but the project triggers protected bike lanes.
  2. Eagle Rock Boulevard (Avenue 32 to York Boulevard) – Late 2025 “large asphalt repair” projects over 660 feet long trigger protected bike lanes and pedestrian enhancements.
  3. Hollywood Boulevard (Gower Street to Virgil Avenue) – 2024 “large asphalt repair” and reconfiguration triggers adding one missing curb ramp.
  4. Ohio Avenue (Centinela Avenue to Bundy Drive) – 2026 slurry seal project triggers protected bike lanes.
  5. Victory Boulevard (Lankershim Boulevard to Clybourn Avenue) – 2025 peak hour lane removal project triggers adding bike lanes.
  6. Western Avenue (Washington Boulevard to Cambridge Street): 2025 and 2026 “large asphalt repair” projects totaling over 660 feet trigger bus lanes and pedestrian enhancements.
  7. The fact that city leaders are going so far out of its way just to avoid building the mobility plan they already approved demonstrates why we need new leadership, in my relatively humble opinion.

Mayor Bass, and the majority of the city council, seem to be doing anything and everything they can not to make the streets of this city any safer, or any more welcoming to anyone not encased in a couple tons of steel and glass.

Nor do we even hear them talk about it, even when the mayor is urged to declare a state of emergency to deal with traffic violence, let alone implement Vision Zero.

Bass frequently ties herself in knots patting herself on the back for how much crime has dropped, while failing to mention that crime has dropped nationwide, in cities she’s never been to, let alone led.

But it has not gotten any safer on city streets for bike riders and pedestrians, who continue to die at record rates.

In fact, the city has gone out of its way to hide the effects of traffic violence, no longer updating Vision Zero maps or releasing information about traffic deaths and injuries.

I don’t know who would make a better mayor for this city at this point.

Streets For All has endorsed Nithya Raman. And while I trust their judgement, I want her to show commitment to safer streets, and finding the funding to implement them.

But in the meantime, count me in the Anyone But Bass camp. And Linton’s lawsuits just scratch the surface of why I’m pitching my tent there.

Apropos of nothing, today’s photo is a corgi celebrating her 6th birthday by barely fitting into a Metro Bike basket. 

………

Speaking of Joe Linton, while his lawsuits and appeals have been filed in his personal capacity, here he takes a tour of the coming curb-protected bike lane on Colorado and Broadway in Santa Monica in his role as editor of Streetsblog LA.

And frankly, I had no idea he could ride that fast.

Bluesky post

………

An interesting bill in the state legislature would allow families to change death certificates after a driver is convicted of a crime.

When someone is killed in a collision, the death certificate typically lists cause of death as “accident.” But SB 1071 would allow the cause of death to be amended to “homicide” if the driver is convicted of felony DUI, hit-and-run, or other felony charges.

However, in this case, homicide isn’t synonymous with murder. It simply means that the death was directly caused by the actions of another person, without implying intent.

But it does make clear that a death resulting from a traffic crime isn’t an accident.

………

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

A Texas woman will spend the next two years behind bars for child endangerment after letting her drunk 14-year old son drive her car, and killing someone riding a bicycle

And that after he was already stopped by police while driving her car two other times. The only reason she wasn’t charged with manslaughter prosecutors couldn’t prove she knew the boy was under the influence.

Although you’d think authorities might have done something the first time the kid was stopped by the cops, instead of waiting until he actually killed someone.

But, you know, Texas.

………

Streets Are For Everyone recaps a recent webinar on completing the LA River Bike Path before the 2028 Olympics.

That was originally part of former Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Twenty-eight by ’28 list of transportation projects that were to be finished before the Games, until Los Angeles and Metro moved the goalposts by taking out the projects that were just too hard.

Because evidently, trying harder to accomplish the hard things just isn’t in our playbook.

………

They’ve got a point.

Those little white car-tickler plastic bendy posts just ain’t gonna protect anyone from anything.

Twitter post

………

Local 

Public radio’s Marketplace visits LA’s Bike Oven co-op, calling it bike repair shop dedicated to giving you everything you need to learn how to fix your bike yourself.

Temporary bus and bike lane detours are in effect on Sepulveda Blvd for the next year and a half while Metro builds a new bridge for the G (Expo) Line, with work expected to be completed in December, 2027.

La Verne approved building a short two-way protected bike lane to connect to a longer lane in Pomona, providing bike access to the Pomona North Metro Station.

 

State

A bill from Encinitas State Senator Catherine Blakespear to redefine ebikes and create a new class of electric motorbikes unanimously passed the Senate Transportation Committee; SB 1167 would require that ebikes have operable pedals and a maximum engine output of 750 watts or less, the same limit required under European Union rules.

This is who we share the road with. A 69-year old Apple Valley man faces a charge of assault with a deadly weapon after first attempting to push a kid off his dirt bike, then getting in his car and attempting to run him down when the boy went to his father to tell him what the man had done.

Santa Barbara reopened the Maria Ignacio Bike Path after a temporary bridge was installed to repair storm damage from earlier this year.

Police in Manteca cracked down on road takeovers by wheelie-popping kids on bikes, impounding 18 bicycles under a new city ordinance allowing their seizure and slapping 25 teenaged riders with $200 tickets.

 

National

The Minnesota state Senate is considering three ebike-related bills, including a bill that would redefine ebikes and e-motos, similar to California’s SB 1167.

Tennessee is adding more than 1,000 miles of gravel trails to the state’s bike network, in addition to 52 paved routes for bicyclists.

Megan forwards news that the National Park Service is still semi-functioning, opening up a seven-mile segment of the historic Colonial Parkway in Virginia’s Colonial National Historical Park for a carfree open streets event. 

Huntsville, Alabama is preparing to host its 17th annual Mayor’s Bike Ride, led by the city’s sitting mayor. Los Angeles hasn’t had a bike ride led by the mayor since Richard Riordan was mayor back in the ’90s. Which is also the last time a Republican held the office. 

 

International

Police in Waterloo, Ontario charged a driver with making an unsafe turn and driving with an obstructed view after he hit a 12-year old girl riding a bicycle, sending the girl to the hospital with serious injuries — then slapped her parents with a ticket for allowing their daughter to ride without a bike helmet.

A Welsh bicyclist complains that it costs twice as much to rent a bike locker in Cardiff as it does in most London neighborhoods; prices for bike storage in the UK range from the equivalent of $160 a year in Cardiff, to as little as $15 in Scotland.

Ultra cyclist Justyna Jarczok somehow got her stolen bike back, albeit looking somewhat worse for wear, days after it was stolen with all of her belongings from a British gas station; her other things were found later in a nearby park.

An addendum to yesterday’s mention of the new DuoBell bike bell from Czech carmaker Škoda, which is actually just vaporware at the moment; designed to defeat noise cancelling headphones, the bell is a prototype, and may or may not make it into actual production.

A Philippine bicyclist says he felt weird wearing his bike helmet on a visit to Taiwan, where bicycling is so normalized it feels more like walking.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mexico’s Isaac del Toro was forced to abandon the Itzulia Basque Country after he tore his right thigh muscle in a bad crash in stage 3 of the race; there’s no prognosis on his recovery and return to racing at this time.

The driver of the official Itzulia Basque Country race doctor’s car was unceremoniously kicked out of the race and fined the equivalent of $632 for causing local star Mikel Landa to abandon the race after he collided with the car and fell heavily on a high speed descent; but apparently, bike racing means never having to say you’re sorry.

 

Finally…

Your old bike frame could have a second life as a hotel chair. When a night at the pub leads to a 525-mile bike ride to watch a soccer match, it might be time to cut back on drinking just a tad.

And that feeling when the “sadistic” coverage of a bike racing crash beats the hell out of any horror flick.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Bike lanes could be coming to Los Feliz, CicLAvia comes off life-support, and hit-and-run driver murders Holocaust survivor

January 29, 2026 / / Comments Off on Bike lanes could be coming to Los Feliz, CicLAvia comes off life-support, and hit-and-run driver murders Holocaust survivor

Bike lanes could be coming to Los Feliz Blvd.

But only if they can figure out how to build them without a) removing a traffic lane, and b) adversely affecting Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Number 67.

Or as most of us know them, the majestic evergreen cedars lining either side of the busy boulevard, which have been designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument since 1970.

CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman, who somehow represents the area in a bizarrely gerrymandered district, got the city council to approve $400,000 for a feasibility and design study to install a cycle track between Fern Dell Drive and Vermont Ave.

A safe bikeway along the corridor would provide a huge benefit, as there is currently no safe way to get from Hollywood to the LA River or the zoo, without climbing extremely steep hills.

Or to Costco, for that matter.

………

It looks like CicLAvia may be off life support.

According to the San Fernando Valley Sun, Metro voted last year to approve funding for open streets events tied to the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics, putting traditional open streets events at risk.

However, after outrage from the community, Metro agreed to fund 70% of the cost for nine additional open streets applications, while requiring host cities to provide the other 30% matching funding.

Which is exactly what the Los Angeles City Council did yesterday, voting 12-2 to approve $3.2 million for open streets.

CD3 Councilmember Bob Blumenfield and CD7’s Monica Rodriguez opposed the measure because only one of the events is planned for the San Fernando Valley.

CD9 Councilmember Curren Price, Jr. was absent.

Probably because he’s just the latest in what’s becoming a long list of allegedly corrupt councilmembers, facing trial for embezzlement, perjury, and conflict of interest benefitting his wife and her consulting company.

………

This is who we share the road with.

The LAPD is looking for the hit-and-run driver who killed an 80-year old Holocaust survivor and his dog as they were walking in the bike lane on Woodman Ave in Sherman Oaks on Tuesday night.

Police located the car, a silver Maserati Quattroporte, abandoned nearby at Mammoth Ave and Milbank Street.

There were no license plates on the murder weapon.

………

My bad.

I neglected to consider yesterday that not everyone has Instagram. Which I should have, considering I only have it to share corgi photos and witticisms.

Well, I think they’re funny, even if the dog doesn’t share my sense of humor. Or my wife, for that matter.

Fortunately, Randy corrected my mistake yesterday, posting details of the West LA Unity Ride, while noting rental bikes will we available.

https://bsky.app/profile/randycoppinger.bsky.social/post/3mditgzlzts2u

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:l3c3zg3aljdbctelkytee3wo/post/3mditnnt4cc2u

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton notes Unity Rides will be taking place throughout California this Friday and Saturday, including additional rides in the LA area:

Los Angeles: Organized by Allez L.A. Bike Shop, 5227 York Blvd. Meet This Friday at 7:30 a.m., 8 a.m. roll-out.

Los Angeles: Organized by Organized by Domestique Cycling Club, Westwood VA Medical Center parking – just off Dowlen Drive, west of Sawtelle Blvd. [Strava route map]

Although it would be more effective if all the rides could meet up somewhere for a rally that would really get attention.

You’ll find information on the Westwood ride below, assuming the Instagram post stays embedded this time.

Instagram post

A ride will also take place in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where Pretti grew up; Bikepacking has mapped rides ranging from the US and Europe to Australia.

Meanwhile, Salsa Cycles explained why they felt compelled to speak out, even as commenters demanded we should keep politics out of bicycling, with the company saying they’re proud to call Minnesota home.

But clearly, not everyone agrees with them.

………

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

You know your new bike lane sucks when riders are reporting broken bones and kidney damage, like this one in Brighton & Hove, England; the city is defending itself by arguing that they’re all turning in the wrong place.

A British man was convicted of assault for punching a bike rider who had stopped to relieve himself in the woods along a bike path, accusing the victim of being a “pervert,” and touching his genitals in front of him. Which is generally what one does when one stops to take a leak; a better question might be why was he looking? 

The capital of Estonia is busy moving bike riders to side streets, because apparently only drivers belong on main thoroughfares, and bike riders don’t really need to get anywhere, anyway.

………

Local 

An op-ed in the Los Angeles Times says the county has set a goal of ripping up 1,600 acres of pavement and replacing them with green space and trees, but questions if it’s too little, too late. Probably. Because we all know how “goals” tend to work out around here. 

Bike lanes on Fairfax Ave now have a new coat of Kermit, in a special shade or green specifically designed not to piss off Hollywood filmmakers. Although that’s still probably not enough to keep drivers from using them as traffic bypass lanes. 

 

State

The Laguna Beach Police Department will hold a free e-bike training course this Saturday, including certification to ride an ebike to local schools.

The attorney representing the family of 6-year old Hudson O’Loughlin is looking for deeper pockets than the woman accused of killing the boy as he rode his bike with his family in Pacific Beach; the suspect has been without a valid driver’s license for nine years, which means she probably doesn’t have insurance.

 

National

Amazon is recruiting ebike delivery riders who own their own bikes without any illegal modifications and with their own liability insurance; the company has also begun investing in their own ebike cargo vans for urban deliveries.

Seriously? A nonprofit bike park in Idaho continues to battle with county officials, who have denied it a permit to even build bathrooms, in a dispute that boils down to whether it should be classified as a ‘park’ or a ‘recreational facility.’

A 62-year old motorcycle rider faces a vehicular homicide charge for killing a 68-year old man riding a bicycle just a few miles from my Colorado hometown following a nine-month investigation; he’s accused of failing to negotiate a lefthand curve after passing another motorcycle, striking the victim on the far right shoulder, apparently head-on. Which makes it sound like the investigation should have taken about ten minutes.

Texas authorities warn parents that their kids could be riding an illegal electric motorcycle in the form of an ebike, while Gulf Shores, Alabama joined the parade of coastal cities cracking down on ebikes.

 

International

How to convert an old, unloved mountain bike to a modern gravel bike for the equivalent of less than $1,400.

A Brazilian gas company recounts the tale of a man who rode from his home in Bahia to New York in the 1920s, taking two years to travel through 11 countries, including sleeping in a tree after getting stalked by a jaguar, only to return home to find that no one really cared about his feat.

Bicyclists in Toronto appeared in Ontario’s highest provincial appeals court yesterday to defend their successful challenge of the province’s plan to rip out three of the city’s bike lanes, which ended with a ruling that bike riders had a constitutional right to have safe places to ride.

A Toronto film school graduate released his own, self-financed 15-minute romantic drama called The Bicycle Boy, which cost him just $23,000, which you can now watch for the low, low price of just $3.49. Which means he’ll break even if just 6,590 people pay to watch it. 

The British Parliament is considering a bill that would ban kits for illegal ebike conversions.

Horrible story from Ireland, where an inquest heard witnesses say they saw a 14-year old boy riding unsteadily after falling off his bicycle, only to disappear for six days before his body was found in a storm drain.

 

Finally…

That feeling when bike thefts are merely “inconveniencing,” or when it’s never too cold to ride. Who needs an ebike when you can build your very own electric jet bike?

And a reminder how it feels to ride a bicycle for the first time.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

More on CARB’s quiet murder of scandal-plagued CA Ebike Incentives, and Metro forgets HLA bike lanes on Sunset busway

November 3, 2025 / / Comments Off on More on CARB’s quiet murder of scandal-plagued CA Ebike Incentives, and Metro forgets HLA bike lanes on Sunset busway
Day 307 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Okay, so the Dodgers won, after nearly giving me and everyone in Los Angeles a heart attack. 

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I credit a lifetime of bicycling for maintaining a steady pulse rate throughout the game. How anyone else in this city managed to survive, I have no idea.

And if you’re heading to the victory parade today, for Kershaw’s sake, take Metro.

Or better yet, ride your bike. Just be careful where you lock it up, and how, to make sure it’s still there when the parade it over. 

Meanwhile, today’s photo is a reminder of the total disaster we all endured trying to apply for ebike vouchers earlier this year.

As if any of us actually needed one.  

………

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff McDonald followed-up on the collapse of the California Ebike Incentive Program, in a story that doesn’t appear to be hidden behind the paper’s usual paywall.

After getting a typically non-responsive response from the California Air Resources Board about CARB’s co-opting of the remaining $18 million in ebike voucher funding, McDonald, who has closely followed the story from its very messy beginning to its inglorious end, wrote this.

The state air board did not respond to follow-up questions about the flawed administration of the e-bike program or two investigations into Pedal Ahead, the San Diego nonprofit selected to manage the effort whose website is now suspended…

The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported in June 2024 that the SANDAG e-bike initiative was troubled. Agency officials had begun investigating Pedal Ahead early last year for failing to comply with terms of the grant it had been awarded two years earlier.

At the same time, the Union-Tribune reported, CARB was conducting its own review into Pedal Ahead’s management, and criminal investigators at the California Department of Justice were scrutinizing the San Diego nonprofit.

Yet nothing in CARB’s statement took any responsibility for the failed administration of the program. Or for selecting a highly questionable administrator for the program.

Pedal Ahead founder Edward Clancy was deeply involved in an investigation into an alleged bribery scandal involving foreign money donated to San Diego-area politicians by agreeing to wear a wire for the FBI. However, he was not charged with any wrongdoing himself.

Then again, people who co-operate with investigations in order to land bigger fish often aren’t. Just ask Los Angeles “City Staffer B.”

Again, according to McDonald,

But in his leadership of Pedal Ahead, publicly filed tax returns and Clancy’s own comments raised questions about how the organization accounted for the millions of dollars it received from government contracts.

The nonprofit’s revenue and expenses reported on federal tax returns did not always match publicly announced contracts. Clancy told the Union-Tribune that $1 million Pedal Ahead collected was in a bank despite not being included in declared revenue.

“Funding is in a money market account, per contract requirement to yield interest that goes back into the program,” he said in a 2024 email. “To date, there is additional approximate $34,000 earned.”

Finally, writing in a very deadpan, journalistic voice, McDonald concluded,

General accepted accounting principles do not allow nonprofits to withhold revenue or spending from their public tax filings.

Which is putting it mildly.

Yet no one at CARB has ever taken responsibility for orchestrating this massive shitshow, instead sweeping it under the rug by co-opting the funding and just shutting the whole damn thing down.

Nor, to the best of my knowledge, has anyone ever asked them to.

Full disclosure, McDonald reached out to me for a comment on Friday, but I didn’t see his email until after Friday’s game, and I apparently responded too late for his deadline.

But this is what I would have said.

This is an extremely car-centric decision that defeats the entire purpose of Ebike Voucher Program, which was to provide viable alternatives to driving to reduce pollution and traffic congestion. The fact is, there is no such thing as a clean car; even an entirely electric car has to get power somewhere, and still contributes to particulate pollution from brake and tire wear. This also discriminates against older and disabled people who can no longer drive and need a viable transportation option. Simply put, there is nothing good about this extremely short-sighted decision.

In retrospect, I may have sounded a tad miffed. When I intended sound miffed as hell.

I have repeatedly called for an investigation into this program. But if anyone has actually looked into it — whether the legislature that approved it, the governor’s office, or the state attorney general — not one word has leaked to the public.

Instead, everyone seems to have simply gone along with CARB’s attempt to quietly kill the whole program, and hope no one noticed.

We have, though.

We have.

Meanwhile, a project manager with the Sacramento Area Bike Advocates politely rips into them, too.

………

Maybe one lawsuit isn’t enough for them.

Just months after Metro was sued for violating Measure HLA by not including the bike lanes called for in the Los Angeles Mobility Plan 2035 on their makeover of the Vermont Ave corridor, the county transit agency appears to be making the same mistake on Sunset Blvd.

According to a little noticed item in last week’s Metro Community Relations Newsletter, the agency is planning to build bus lanes on the busy boulevard, while once again ignoring bike lanes called for in the Mobility Plan.

Get involved and hear about the changes coming to Sunset Bl—virtually!
Metro is planning improvements to make travel along Sunset Bl faster and more reliable. The project will improve a 4.3-mile stretch from Vermont Av to Havenhurst Dr by adding bus priority lanes for Metro Line 2 on weekdays during peak hours. Each day, about 20,000 riders travel this segment, and the priority lanes will make their trips faster and more reliable. In addition, the project will benefit over 111,000 residents and nearly 60,000 jobs located within a 10-minute walk of the corridor. Join us for a virtual community meeting on Wednesday, November 12, from 6 to 7 p.m. to learn more about the Sunset Bl Bus Priority Lanes Project. You can participate online using this link (Meeting ID: 815 9457 3537) or by phone at 213.338.8477. Visit the project website to learn more: metro.net/sunsetbl.

The project runs 4.3 miles along Sunset, threading through West Hollywood, Hollywood and East Hollywood, while the Mobility Plan calls for four miles of painted, unprotected bike lanes along the corridor, in addition to bus lanes and pedestrian enhancements.

So let’s all applaud Metro for taking the long-overdue step of building bus lanes on Sunset. But maybe we could gently nudge them towards keeping the city’s bike lane promises, too.

Speaking of which, Joe Linton, who seems to be everywhere these days, reminds us about that virtual meeting to discuss the project on the 12th of this month.

Bluesky post

………

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

A writer for Road.cc puts tongue firmly in cheek, and considers what would happen if the ultra-conservative Reform Party takes the reins in the UK, concluding bikes would make the obvious scapegoat after they get rid of all the foreigners.

No bias here. A Cambridge, England letter writer complained about an election mailer that said “Your vote can save lives,” arguing that bike safety isn’t the only issue facing the city, and two of the three recent bicycling deaths shouldn’t count because they happened on streets with shiny new bike lanes.

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

A 49-year old Singaporean man was lucky to get off with just two months behind bars for blowing through a red light on his bicycle, and killing a 70-year old woman.

………

Local 

The Sierra Club spends time with the river channels of Los Angeles, which is where most of our local bike paths are.

Momentum credits Santa Monica resident Caro Vilain for using her clever social media videos for the greater good “to help revolutionize the way we perceive urban cycling.”

 

State

Two Encinitas ebike retailers closed, with one owner blaming a shift to illegal electric motorbikes rather than more traditional ped-assist ebikes.

Join the club. San Diego’s 10 News reports that the city is not making progress towards its promise of zero traffic deaths.

Sad news from Bakersfield, where someone riding a bicycle was killed when they allegedly ran a red light, and was struck by an arson investigator with the Bakersfield Fire Department.

More sad news, this time from Manteca, where a 15-year old boy was killed when he was struck by a train while riding his bike on a railroad trestle across the San Joaquin River, along with a friend who escaped injury.

A 25-year old Stockton man was arrested for allegedly attacking and robbing a 70-year old “elderly” woman as she was riding a bicycle; his getaway was foiled when he tried jumping into the bed of a passing pickup, and the driver apparently wasn’t having it.

 

National

In what may be the understatement of the year, Cycling West says trees make bicycling more pleasant.

Direct-to-consumer mountain bike brand YT Industries USA is the latest bike company to go belly-up, shutting down both its San Clemente and Bentonville locations, four months after its German counterpart declared insolvency.

Someone riding a bicycle was killed by an accused drunk and reckless driver in Las Vegas on Sunday, the 132nd person killed on the streets of the city just this year.

Tragic news from Austin, Texas, where a man was killed, and his two young kids injured, when a hit-and-run driver ran a red light and slammed into the bike they were all riding.

A Maine man known locally as Bicycle Larry is still missing, more than 20 years after he disappeared without a trace while riding his bike.

 

International

Momentum ranks 30 of the world’s most beautiful bicycle routes. None of which are in California, whether by design or omission. 

Bicyclists in Mérida, Yucatán are fighting to keep protective planters on a bike lane, despite calls for their removal from local businesses, who argue they interfere with tour buses and reduce street parking. In other words, kind of like anywhere else. 

A Winnipeg, Manitoba newspaper says it’s never too cold to ride a bike, as long as you’ve got the right gear. I can attest to that, although personal experience suggests it can be too snowy, too wet or just too damn miserable. 

That’s more like it. A Member of Parliament from Oxfordshire, England demanded that funding for bicycle safety be included in the country’s upcoming budget, after a series of collisions in a local town.

British mountain bikers were warned against using unauthorized trails in Coombs Wood, where two young riders were injured at an “accident black spot.”

A 77-year old Frenchman somehow rode his bicycle off the road and fell down a 130-foot ravine, surviving for three days on red wine he had in a shopping bag. Which is a vital safety reminder to always carry some form of booze on your bike. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up. 

Hundreds of bicyclists turned out for Dubai’s annual bike ride.

A group of women in their 20s and 30s are using their bicycles to reclaim the post-apartheid streets of Johannesburg, South Africa, where bicycling is no longer seen as an elite hobby or a last resort for the poor.

Jessica Alba is one of us, exploring Australia’s Gold Coast on a Lime Bike, while wearing a black-on-black Dodger’s cap, as she films her latest movie.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from France, where the oldest living Olympic gold medalist died at age 101; cyclist Charles Coste won gold in team pursuit in the 1948 London Olympics, and served as a torchbearer 76 years later at last year’s Paris Games.

UK cyclist Zoe Bäckstedt, the reigning U23 cyclocross and time trial champion, urges you to “wear a helmet, please,” claiming her’s saved her life in a training crash that resulted in a broken hand and wrist fracture.

 

Finally…

Why bother riding on two wheels when one will do? That feeling when you take the wrong turn out of the airport, and startle the locals by pushing your mud-crusted bicycle out of the forest hours later.

And nothing like letting a David Bowie lyric dictate your next 3,000-mile ride.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Op-ed says put Metro in charge for carfree LA28, CHP vetoes noise cams, and reality show family victims of traffic violence

October 1, 2025 / / Comments Off on Op-ed says put Metro in charge for carfree LA28, CHP vetoes noise cams, and reality show family victims of traffic violence
Day 274 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

An op-ed from a Los Angeles advocate says if LA really wants to hold a carfree Olympics, we need to give Metro more power.

Or rather, just put Metro in charge, and let ’em rip.

Joshua Seawell, head of policy at the Inclusive Abundance Initiative, says Metro showed what it could do during the pandemic, by closing Wilshire Blvd to traffic for two weeks to finish a leg of the D Line subway ahead of schedule.

That success tells us how to serve Angelenos, let alone the world: Let Metro cook. Empowering the agency — with its ever-increasing competence, guaranteed funding stream, mandate straight from voters, and accountability to a board of electeds — would be a smart way to resolve stasis and reduce regulatory headwinds.

Sure, a reform package from the state or county should generally obligate Metro by default to follow each city’s permitting standards and to make good-faith efforts to modify projects at the request of cities. But it should formalize an expectation that cities, in turn, move quickly and put up funds or match funds to the best of their ability (perhaps drawing on their own allocations under Measures M and R). Metro should also be allowed to judge when those standards and modifications are sufficiently specific, objective and cost-effective.

He clearly has more faith in Metro than I do — especially in light of the agency’s failure to include bike lanes required by Measure HLA on Vermont Ave, asserting that the measure doesn’t apply to it as a county agency.

But he has a point, in that no one — no person, department or agency — is fully responsible for streets and transportation in LA County.

We have far too many hands stirring the pot. Yet not one has the authority to cut through red tape to get things done, and no one is accountable.

Which is the best way to ensure that little or nothing ever gets done. And what does get done takes far too long, and costs too much.

We’ve already seen what happened with former Mayor Garcetti’s vaunted Twenty-Eight by ’28 plan, which was repeatedly watered down to the point of near meaninglessness.

So whether it’s Metro or someone else, someone needs to be in charge.

Or dreams of a carfree ’28 Los Angeles Olympics will remain just that. If not a nightmare.

……….

No surprise here, as the CHP studied noise cams and, like speed cams before them, said they just won’t do the job.

Even though they’re already doing the job other places.

According to the On The Road column from the Southern California News Group,

In a report to the Legislature in January 2025, the CHP said that of the three devices installed, only one generated data which the CHP could analyze on a web-based interface. All three devices were found to be “inadequate as a standalone enforcement tool and unsatisfactory in their ability to identify individual offending vehicles to the degree necessary for enforcement action,” the CHP concluded.

The devices had technical problems, location limitations, there were privacy concerns, and there also was the possibility that any revenue generated from tickets using these noise cameras would not cover maintenance and staffing costs for them, the CHP report said. Based on the study’s results, the CHP did not recommend using the cameras as a standalone enforcement tool for ticketing drivers suspected of exhaust noise violations.

So you can look forward to many more years of floor-shaking bass, blaring car horns and thundering muffler-free motorcycles, cars and trucks.

Because once again, the CHP said no, just like they do with everything else.

………

This is the cost of traffic violence.

A truck driver faces charges following a Michigan crash that killed three members of the Putman family, known for the TLC reality show Meet the Putmans.

The family members known as Papa, Neenee and Aunt Megan all died at the scene, while five other members of the family were hospitalized, some in critical condition.

The Florida-based driver was charged with three counts of moving violation causing death, and five counts of moving violation causing serious impairment of a body function.

……….

Mark your calendar for next month’s Corazón del Valle Active Streets event.

Twitter post

……….

Pro cyclist Sean Green became just the second person known to climb and descend all of Scotland’s Munros, a group of 282 mountains topping 3,000 feet elevation, descending them all by mountain bike.

………

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

Someone clearly missed the irony of posting red and green colorblindness tests to remind London bike riders to stop for red lights, when studies show the people on four wheels are more likely to break the law than the people on two — and more likely to cause a near miss or crash when they do.

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

Police in Charlotte, North Carolina arrested and handcuffed a 12-year old boy for the crime of “recklessly riding a bicycle;” a video of the kid in cuffs has already viewed over 50,000 times. If that was a crime when I was a kid, I’d still be behind bars. 

………

Local 

Pasadena police are urging drivers to slow down for National Pedestrian Safety Month, something that would improve safety for everyone, regardless of how we all get around.

Speaking of which, the Pasadena Department of Transportation is teaming with local nonprofit Day One and the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition to sponsor the city’s eighth annual Walkober.

 

State

Ultramarathoner Kilian Jornet is nearing the completion of his quest to climb every mountain over 14,000 feet elevation in the lower 48, while running and biking from one to another; he recently topped California’s Mt. Whitney and Mt. White, with only Mount Shasta and Washington’s Mount Rainier left.

Santa Barbara is rolling out a new citywide bike parking plan, pledging to replace traditional hitching post racks with something newer and more secure.

Sad news from Fresno, where authorities identified a 15-year old high school student who was killed by a driver while riding his bike on Monday; a woman passing by the next day prayed for drivers to slow down. Which is probably a prayer we can all share. 

A San Francisco group has opened the Big Art Loop, a walking and biking trail connecting 100 large sculptures around the city.

Sacramento is already removing and replacing pavement on the city’s two-year old Del Rio Trail biking and walking trail, after construction defects resulted in cracks in the pavement shortly after it opened.

 

National

Prevention considers whether bicycling or walking is better for weight loss, but just throws up their hands and calls it a tie.

DoorDash says their new delivery robot is designed to “travel seamlessly on bike lanes, roads, sidewalks and driveways.” So you’ll now have even more competition for what little road space we’ve got.

Great idea. A Colorado Rotary Club is sponsoring a fundraising ride to help eliminate malaria deaths by bringing healthcare to remote villages of east-central Africa.

A career criminal in Houston, Texas is suspected of breaking into homes and stealing bicycles — yet was somehow out on the streets despite a series of prison sentences totaling 99 years behind bars. And this in a state that’s supposed to be tough on crime. 

They get it. Officials in St. Louis says pedestrian safety will be improved by a new bike lane project, since studies show bike lanes — especially protected bike lanes — improve safety for everyone.

Members of the horrorcore rap group Insane Clown Posse stepped up to donate to a crowdfunding page for a 12-year old Indiana girl, who was killed when she was struck by the driver of a semi-truck while riding her bike across a roadway, after her family posted a photo of the girl wearing the group’s t-shirt.

Boston will test several different kinds of bike lane barriers in hopes of replacing the flimsy car-tickler flexposts currently in use — and too often favored by Los Angeles officials — with something more durable.

Authorities in New Jersey are continuing to investigate the hit-and-run crash that killed two high school girls sharing an ebike; the driver was arrested after literally running away from the collision. And even then, the radio station insists on saying the two best friends were somehow killed by a Jeep, rather than a driver in one.

Philadelphia residents fought it out in the endless battle of bike lanes versus parking during a contentious five-hour city council meeting, as drivers argued bike riders need to compromise, while bike riders said their lives are at stake. So, apparently, they just expect us to compromise our lives. Seems reasonable. 

Eighty-five-year old New Orleans bluesman Little Freddie King is one of us, as he recovers in the hospital after falling from his new ebike, explaining that his “two-wheel Cadillac let him down.”

 

International

Momentum ranks the top ten bike-friendly North American cities to visit this fall, none of which are in California. Or any closer than Oregon, for that matter.

A London father describes how a custom e-cargo bike replaced the family car and changed his life.

A team of 18 London firefighters will ride 370 miles over five days to raise funds for a firefighter’s charity, visiting every fire and rescue station in Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex.

No surprise here. A Russian court has extended the pre-trial detention of French ultracyclist Sofiane Sehili until November, after he was arrested last month for illegally entering the country while attempting to set a new record for crossing Eurasia by bike, despite holding a valid visa. Like others arrested in the authoritarian country, he will likely be used as a bargaining chip to gain concessions from other countries.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Rwandan world championship road race was “an utter sufferfest” even for the peloton’s best climbers, with Tom Pidcock describing it as “the most unenjoyable race of the year.”

Velo says Tadej Pogačar’s total domination of the men’s worlds has reignited debate over whether he is better than the legendary Eddy Merckx. Which is something that should only be considered when his career is over, because he might be one day. But today ain’t that day. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when a website maps and ranks the best bike routes in Sequoia National Park, just in time for the government shutdown. If your bike brakes malfunction and you have to roll through a red light, try to find something soft to crash into — like a police car, for instance.

And now you, too, can own Albert Einstein’s bicycle seat. So maybe you can solve the unified field theory by putting it on your own bike.

Twitter post

……… 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

WeHo councilmembers explain support for Fountain Ave, and Metro approves $85.5 million for LA County bike/ped projects

September 18, 2025 / / Comments Off on WeHo councilmembers explain support for Fountain Ave, and Metro approves $85.5 million for LA County bike/ped projects
Day 261 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

They get it.

Well, some of them, anyway.

As we mentioned on Tuesday, the Complete Streets makeover of Fountain Ave in West Hollywood will go forward, after a seemingly endless multi-year process.

One that saw far too many avoidable deaths and injuries along the way, along with countless dollars in property damage.

Sam Mulick, a reporter for the Beverly Press & Park LaBrea News, reported on Monday’s West Hollywood City Council, where the first phase of the Fountain Ave redesign was approved on a 3-2 vote.

Councilmembers John Heilman and Lauren Meister cast the no votes, while Mayor Chelsea Byers, and Councilmen John Erickson and Danny Hang voted yes.

I’ll let you read Mulick’s story if you want Heilman’s and Meister’s reasoning for opposing the project.

But at least Meister asked the right questions, even if it seemed like she could benefit from sitting down with someone who could correct a few misperceptions on traffic safety.

Heilman, however, seemed to be a lost cause.

But let’s take a moment to examine why the other three supported the project, which could have a dramatic effect on traffic safety, while significantly improving livability on the corridor.

“It’s our responsibility to create options for a diverse community,” (Byers) said. “That is something that’s really important to me especially in this extremely dense area of our community. Kids, especially, have been locked inside of their homes … it is because cars and collisions and the violence they experience interacting with them is the No. 1 contributor to kids’ deaths. And that is a horrific reality that we can transform without having to send families to suburbs.”

Then there were these heartrending comments from Erickson and Hang, both of whom seemed to fully grasp the cost of keeping the street in its current deadly, car-choked form.

“This is my backyard and the sheer fact that I walk by Blake Ackerman’s ghost bike every single day to walk my dog is truly one of the most haunting experiences I have ever had to experience,” (Erickson) said. “This process that we have been going through for five years is killing people. It’s just that simple.”

Councilman Danny Hang said that the redesign will help lower income residents who travel without cars and help the city meet climate goals by reducing emissions. Hang added that the redesign is personal to him because his partner was the victim of a vehicle collision on Fountain Avenue and was hospitalized as a result.

“Fountain Avenue has long been one of the most dangerous corridors in our city,” he said. “Just over a decade we have seen dozens of severe crashes and five lives lost. Those aren’t just numbers. Those are our neighbors and friends and family members and for me, the most important measure of success is simple – fewer people getting hurt and more people getting home safely.”

However, the war isn’t over.

The project will come back before the council again next year, when they will have to approve a construction contract for the first phase. Any change in the makeup of the council could adversely affect that vote.

But for now, at least, we’re finally on our way to a safer Fountain Ave. Even if it comes too late for Ackerman, and too many others.

………

Local 

Metro approved $85.5 million in grants for 16 projects throughout Los Angeles County, primarily for first mile/last mile connections and improving mobility for the Olympics; among the projects are new protected bike lanes on Overland Ave in Culver City, and closing another gap in the LA River bike path through the San Fernando Valley.

 

State

Huntington Beach is considering extending restrictions on ebike-riding kids, requiring them to ride on city streets or bike lanes near places like schools and churches. Never mind that bike lanes are, by definition, on streets, or that once again, there appears to be no distinction between ped-assist ebikes and illegal dirt bikes and electric motorcycles.

Carlsbad continued its march to age restrictions for ebike riders, after the Traffic Safety & Mobility Commission voted Tuesday to recommend banning kids under 12 from riding ebikes, although the Coast News calls the restrictions “toothless.”

Cathedral City is installing new painted bike lanes on Whispering Palms Trail as part of the city’s Active Transportation Plan.

Ventura’s city council voted to keep six downtown blocks carfree, like they have been since the early days of the pandemic.

Parents in Menlo Park are complaining that new speed humps installed as part of a Complete Streets project are making it more dangerous for their kids to bike to school, because they extend all the way across the bike lane.

San Francisco voters recalled Supervisor Joel Engardio by a nearly two-thirds margin over his support for turning a two-mile stretch of the Great Highway into a linear park; now recall proponents will try to force its return to a smog- and traffic-choked coastal highway.

 

National

Electrek scrubbed Rivian’s behind-the-scene promo video, and pieced together leaked images of their upcoming ebike that the company had blurred, revealing what appears to be a ped-assist cargo bike.

Seattle opened new protected bike lanes on the least-steep section of the city’s Beacon Hill, creating a 6.5 mile protected corridor across the city. Thanks to fellow corgi dad Mike for the heads-up. 

Good idea. Spokane, Washington’s Bicycling Advisory Board took to their bikes to ride the city’s streets, looking for areas that need improvement. Although with 7,500 miles of streets in Los Angeles, that could take awhile here. 

I want to be like them when I grow up. Sequim, Washington’s Ancient and Honorable Cyclists held their annual meetup; 18 of the group’s 22 octogenarian members turned out, most of whom ride three times or more a week.

Utah just found the skeletal remains of a 47-year old homeless man who disappeared three years ago after setting out for a bike ride.

The editor of a Colorado newspaper says “the world feels like it’s going to h-e-double-toothpicks without the incentive of a handbasket right now,” but at least living in a small town where kids can ride their bikes makes life a little better.

New York is claiming progress on Vision Zero, as the city experienced its lowest level of traffic deaths in five years. Proof that reducing traffic deaths is possible if cities actually take it seriously, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis I could name. 

 

International

Vancouver, British Columbia is reversing course once again on bike lanes in the city’s 1,000-acre Stanley Park, after the Park Board approved a new mobility plan containing separated bike lanes, just two years after ripping out previously installed bike lanes through the park.

A 62-year old Englishman rode his bike 105 miles from London’s Hyde Park to his home in Wiltshire to raise money for hospice care — despite two previous strokes and having a pacemaker, osteoarthritis and just one kidney.

The UK’s biggest bicycle retailer says things are finally starting to look up, following a modest 1.7% increase in sales this year.

French ultra cyclist Sofiane Sehili is being held in pre-trial detention in Russia until October 4th on unannounced, super-secret charges, after being arrested for an illegal border crossing while attempting to set a record for the fastest crossing of Eurasia by bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling Australia examines the process that brought Africa’s first UCI Road World Championships to Rwanda.

Sports Illustrated says the stampede to join the ever-expanding Team Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team continues, as 23-year old Italian “superstar” Davide Piganzoli signed a three-year “mega deal” with the team. Although that seems like a very generous use of the term “superstar” for someone who just graduated from the U23 ranks. 

 

Finally…

Now even the trees are out to get us. Being violent ebike thieves is bad enough, but kitty-napping is just going too damn far.

And if the Jolly Green Giant ever needs a new bike, he’ll now know where to find a few.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Petition for red light cam at Fountain and Gardner, build a more livable South Bay, and tell Metro how to improve public safety

July 22, 2025 / / Comments Off on Petition for red light cam at Fountain and Gardner, build a more livable South Bay, and tell Metro how to improve public safety
Day 203 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

A new petition is calling for a red light cam at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street to combat the ongoing toll of traffic violence, including the hit-and-run death of Blake Ackerman two weeks ago.

As of this writing, it stands at 199 signatures, including mine.

Let’s help get it a lot higher.

Photo by Thomas from Pixabay.

………

Here’s your chance to get started on building a more livable South Bay, with an in-person discussion next Monday evening at St. Cross Episcopal Church in Hermosa Beach.

What does it take to create livable and walkable communities?

Join us for an informative and dynamic conversation with special guests from Livable Communities Initiative and Parking Reform Network on policy and planning reforms to create a more livable, affordable South Bay community. We’ll learn from experts in urban planning and parking reform and hear from local organizations engaged in this work. This event will spark real conversations about local reforms that can bring down the cost of living and shape neighborhoods focused around people instead of cars.

This event is co-sponsored by South Bay Forward, League of Women Voters of the Beach Cities, and South Bay Bicycle Coalition Plus.

Featured speakers: Lindsay Sturman, Co-Founder of Livable Communities Initiative and Tony Jordan, President of Parking Reform Network.

Suggested donation of $10 per person to cover event costs.

………

Metro is now accepting applications to join their Public Safety Advisory Committee.

Metro is seeking applicants to participate on our Public Safety Advisory Committee which will work to review, comment, and provide input on how the agency can reimagine public safety on our system.

We are looking for individuals who regularly ride Metro and are committed to supporting the agency in fulfilling its Public Safety Mission Statement, to “safeguard the transit community by taking a holistic, equitable and welcoming approach to public safety, in recognition that each individual is entitled to a safe, dignified and human experience.” Metro also seeks to ensure that the perspectives of youth, women, seniors and people with disabilities are represented. Please note, members serving on the PSAC are not required to be U.S. citizens but need to reside in Los Angeles County.

PSAC meetings occur in person monthly over a two-year term, with the potential for additional outreach, engagement, and subcommittee meetings as deemed necessary.

The PSAC is composed of individuals who can contribute their relevant experience as riders and expertise in:

  • Racial justice
  • Equitable transit
  • Public safety reform
  • Law enforcement
  • Victims’ rights
  • Mental health
  • Homelessness
  • Social services

We appreciate your interest in helping us ensure that Metro provides world-class transportation for all.

Applications for Metro’s Public Safety Advisory Committee will be accepted until Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

Apply Today to submit your application online.

………

That’s more like it.

New York prosecutors threw the book at the speeding hit-and-run driver who killed a 55-year old man on his morning bike ride and a 63-year woman sitting on a bus bench in New York’s Chinatown over the weekend, as we mentioned yesterday.

Twenty-three-year old Autumn Donna Ascencio Romero was hit with charges of with murder, manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, criminal possession of a weapon, leaving the scene of an accident and criminal possession of stolen property.

That last one is because she was allegedly behind the wheel of a stolen car when she “flew” off a bridge at an excessive speed before jumping a curb, hitting the victims and slamming into a police van hard enough to knock it into a jewelry store.

Meanwhile, her 22-year old passenger faces two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

None of which will bring either victim back, of course.

But it’s a start.

………

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

Forget cell phones. A Boston driver says he killed a 62-year old man riding an ebike because he was distracted by a bug.

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

Elderly Singaporean residents complain that the area outside a market and food center has become a “dumping ground” for disorderly parked bicycles. Although we could also applaud the market for being exceptionally successful at attracting bicycle traffic.

………

Local 

Metro Bike is teaming with LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes for a seven-mile bicycle tour of Boyle Heights rich musical heritage. I’ll settle for anyplace that has anything to do with LA music greats Los Lobos, thank you.

A Pasadena committee will consider updating the city’s ebike regulations today to bring them into compliance with state regulations while eliminating a requirement to register ebikes, which the state prohibited in a 2023 bill.

 

State

California governor and undeclared presidential candidate Gavin Newsom signed a pair of ebike bills, one requiring lights and reflectors visible up to 500 feet, and the other merely cleaning up an existing law prohibiting ebike modifications to increase the speed.

This is who we share the road with. A San Diego woman faces charges for the hit-and-run death of a man walking on a bike path — yes, a bike path — after allegedly four miles on the pathway while under the influence.

A Fresno bicycle and pedestrian safety operation resulted in 144 citations, including 90 tickets given to drivers and 54 to pedestrians and bicyclists.

San Francisco’s “premier” open streets event returned to a short 1.4-mile segment of Valencia Street in the Mission District on Sunday.

Sacramento updated its Vision Zero Action Plan. Just in case you want to remind LA’s elected officials that we have one, too.

 

National

He gets it. A writer for Singletracks says he doesn’t regret riding one of America’s worst mountain bike trails, because “In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.” Amen, brother.

CyclingSavvy is hosting a Zoom bike safety training seminar tomorrow on how to prevent the most common types of crashes — even those caused by motorist errors.

Seattle Bike Blog says the city’s new bike lanes are actually freight infrastructure for cargo bike riders. Then again, that’s just as true for Los Angeles if you choose to use them that way. And maybe you should. 

Quick action by an Iowa state trooper, along with several bystanders, is credited with saving the life of a 62-year old California man who has no pulse after crashing his bike during the annual RAGBRAI ride across Iowa.

Rhode Island’s annual Newport Folk Festival is expecting another record-setting year of bicycle traffic, with an anticipated 1,600 ticket holders arriving each day representing 16% to 18% of all attendees, thanks in part to a new city safety plan.

They get it, too. Jacksonville, Florida completed an $11 million road diet, slimming a four lane roadway down to one lane in each direction, along with sidewalks and bike lanes, in part because they expect it to attract business.

 

International

That’s more like it, part two. A 20-year old Sheffield, England man will spend the next eleven years behind bars for killing an 81-year old man riding a bicycle, after blowing a red light while high on nitrous oxide and traveling an estimated 30 mph over the post 50 mph speed limit.

A British coroner is criticizing a French investigation into the death of a high-end wine merchant, who was stuck by a driver while on a bicycling vacation in Burgundy, concluding the investigation “by the gendarmerie was inadequate” and finding no evidence the victim and his companions were riding recklessly, as the French cops had concluded.

A man in the UK is riding his bike unsupported around the coast of the country to encourage more men to bike and to get help for mental health, because “Suicide is the biggest global killer of men.”

A museum in Bhopal, India features 30 “luxurious” bicycles that cost more than some cars, including a tri bike with a frame made from a single sheet of carbon fiber with no joints anywhere. Then again, an entry-level car costs less than five grand in India. 

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where the family of a bike-riding 11-year old girl is demanding a longer sentence for the hit-and-run driver who killed her while driving drunk, high and speeding on the wrong side of the road because she was enraged that her boyfriend was having an affair; they called the 34-year old woman’s four year and five month sentence a “slap in the face,” especially considering her 29 previous convictions. Yes, 29.

 

Competitive Cycling

While other websites are obsessed with how male cyclists pee during a race, Cycling Weekly considers the problem of how women cyclists manage their periods.

A new report from Zwift says we could be entering a new golden age of women’s cycling, saying the revival of the women’s Tour de France has already transformed women’s cycling on screen, on the road and in the pro peloton.

Mountain Bike Action examines the mountain bikers currently competing in the Tour de France, including Americans Matteo Jorgenson, Quinn Simmons and Sepp Kuss.

Velo wants to let you in on the secret human side of “Tour de France King” Tadej Pogačar.

Bike Radar considers the question of why the pain tolerance of pro cyclists is so much higher than other sportspeople. Although boxing, MMA fighting and pro football kind of hurt, too.  

That’s not red wine cyclists are sucking down at the finish line, it’s tart cherry juice.

 

Finally…

Only in America could a cat grow up to be mayor of a bike path. That feeling when the county encourages you to ride on Gallows Road.

And the average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gas in Los Angeles County is just a fraction under $4.50.

Just in case you walk and ride your bike everywhere and have no idea what it costs these days.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Density boosts bike & walking rates, Metro protects parking over bike riders, and buy bike stuff to pay off Bezos’ wedding

July 9, 2025 / / 4 comments
Day 190 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

If you build it, they will walk.

And bike.

A new report on transportation mode share from Streetlight Data shows a direct correlation between increased urban density, and bicycling and walking rates.

In other words, the closer things are together, the more likely people will walk or bike to them, as well as being more likely to use transit.

According to Government Technology,

“Both [walking and biking] are impacted by the availability of transit, because transit makes it possible to get to your destination on a trip that could involve both walking and transit,” (Martin) Morzynski (of Streetlight Data) said. “The availability of transit will impact this data. The availability of access to transit.”

What is clear is that 9 out of 10 U.S. counties with the highest levels of active transportation — walking and biking — have a population density of at least 4,000 people per square mile. For example, New York County, N.Y., which includes Manhattan, has the highest level of active transportation, where 48 percent of trips are taken via walking, 11 percent are taken by bicycle and 41 percent in an auto.

But while biking and walking as seen as key transportation elements that can benefit from density, those aren’t the only benefits.

Increasingly, walking and biking are seen as key pieces of the overall transportation ecosystem in a region spurring the development of infrastructure like bike lanes, mobility hubs and the advancement of micromobility programs for sharable bikes and scooters. And indeed, public transit is viewed as an enabler of active transportation, since if it were not an option, a number of biking and walking trips would simply become car trips, Morzynski said…

Increasing density can accomplish more than converting car trips to walking or biking. It can also help to solve housing shortages, urbanists have said. Researchers with the Urban Institute have cited studies showing increased density, coupled with reduced parking requirements, help to bring down the cost of housing, while also making smarter use of transit investments.

Your move, Los Angeles.

Photo by Josh Hild from Pexels. 

………

No surprise here.

Streets For All says Metro is once again protecting the convenience of drivers over the lives of bike riders, this time on the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project.

Metro is choosing parking spaces over a protected bike lane!

Metro is seeking feedback about the North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project. The BRT will add 19 miles of faster and more reliable transit and 22 bus stations between NoHo and Pasadena, connecting Burbank, Glendale, and Eagle Rock.

But…the latest design completely removed the protected bike lane on Glenoaks through Glendale because it would have required removal of 30% of the on-street parking spaces.

Tell Metro that it’s unacceptable to choose parking over safety, and demand they restore the protected bike lane through Glendale!

There are six Metro community feedback meetings, attend as many as you can, and make your voice heard! 

Meeting Details:

Virtual
Thursday, July 10, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Call-in: 213.338.8477
Webinar ID: 849 6832 2391
Link to Join

Pasadena
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Pasadena City College, Circadian Room
1570 E Colorado Bl, Pasadena, CA 91106

Glendale
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Adult Recreation Center
201 E Colorado St, Glendale, CA 91205

North Hollywood
Saturday, July 19, 2025
10:00am – 11:30am
East Valley High School
5525 Vineland Av, North Hollywood, CA 91601

Eagle Rock
Monday, July 21, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Yosemite Recreation Center
1840 Yosemite Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90041

Burbank
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Buena Vista Branch Library
300 N Buena Vista St, Burbank, CA 91505

Thank you for fighting for a safe, sustainable, and equitable future for Glendale and beyond!

………

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock lately, it’s Amazon Prime Days, giving you the opportunity to help pay off Jeff Bezos’ recent Venice wedding.

Oh, and get some bike stuff, too.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A 24-year old road-raging driver is charged with 1st degree murder after allegedly ramming his Tesla into a San Diego motorcyclist, killing the victim instantly.

He then tried to walk away from the crash in his bare feet, offering cash to other drivers to give him a ride before flipping them off when they refused.

He was finally taken into custody at gunpoint by CHP officers, reportedly incriminating himself with his own statements afterwards.

………

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

The CHP reports 1,311 California drivers were busted for DUI over the holiday weekend. Although the only real surprise is that the number is that low.

Officers wrote a total of 34,548 during the enforcement period that began Wednesday evening and ran through Sunday night, 21,328 of those for issues related to speeding.

And no, I have no idea what “issues related to speeding” means, as opposed to just violating the damn speed limit.

Especially since all you have to do to catch a speeding driver in California is pick one and point a speed gun at them.

………

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

Over 100 bike riders turned out on Saturday to protest plans to either reduce the width of Manilla bike lanes to make room for motorcycle lanes, or convert them to shared lanes with motorcycles. And on a related note, Philippine residents say it’s fear, not laziness, that keeps them from riding bike — a situation that’s not likely to be helped reducing or eliminating bike lanes.

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

A Singaporean man filed a pair of formal complaints, alleging that reckless bicyclists and e-mobility users are endangering his pregnant wife by the way they ride on walkways, and leave their bikes blocking the way. Although when I look at the photos he submitted, all I see are hundreds of bicycles safely and considerately parked along the sidewalk, while leaving space for people to pass.

………

Local 

Metro approved $2.9 billion in transit fund allocations for the 2026 fiscal year to help fund municipal and local transit operations throughout LA County, including bike and pedestrian projects.

 

State

Calbike says don’t believe the misinformation coming from Big Highway — aka companies who profit from highway expansion — about mitigating Vehicle Miles Traveled, or VMT, offering a detailed explainer of why the highway builders are wrong.

The new San Diego State University Mission Valley is the nation’s first college campus purpose-built as a bicycle-friendly, transit oriented development, or TOD.

San Diego’s stormwater department has belatedly come to the realization that bike paths shouldn’t be underwater, and committed to fixing a frequently flooded section of the SR-56 bike path. Even if a bike path deserves better than to be named after the freeway that blights it.

Vista will remove berms and bollards from protected bike lanes, just months after they were installed, due to complaints from bicyclists who said they made them feel less safe. Although they don’t seem to have bothered to gather safety stats to determine whether they actually increased or reduced injuries. 

Mountain View is considering a road diet on El Monte Ave after a series of pedestrian deaths, removing one lane to create a single lane in each direction with a center turn lane, and converting the existing bike lanes to buffered lanes.

 

National

You can now legally ride an ebike on Oregon bike trails and park roads.

The youngest of the four kids who killed an Albuquerque nuclear scientist as he biking to work by — allegedly — intentionally driving into him with a stolen car has been charged with murder, despite being just 12 years old; he was 11 at the time of the crime, and suspected of being involved in a string of burglaries dating back to when he was just ten.

New York will hire up to 45 unarmed “peace officers” to enforce rules against illegal moped, ebike and e-scooter use. Because apparently, the city’s existing 36,000 sworn peace officers aren’t up to the task. Or maybe just don’t want it. 

Hundreds of Asheville NC bike riders took to the streets and gathered in bike shops to honor two men who were killed when the driver of a dump truck crossed onto the wrong side of the road, and hit them head-on as they rode their bikes; a friend said one victim’s greatest fear was dying alone, which he tragically avoided by getting killed along with the other victim.

He gets it. The father of one of those Asheville victims says unsafe roads are a national problem.

 

International

One of the most prominent British politicians of the Thatcher era of the 1980s has died at age 94; Norman Tebbit, aka Lord Tebbit of Chingford, was responsible for popularizing the now common English phrase, “On yer bike,” for which he may never be forgiven.

Former pro cyclist Molly Weaver says she was relieved and disoriented after shaving a whopping 17 hours off the record for riding around the coast of Britain, while becoming the first woman to hold the record.

New research shows demand for ebikes is growing in the UK, even as bicycling rates are dropping — although bicycling rates appear to be rising in the Scottish Highlands.

TNT Magazine says bicycling is the best way to connect with “authentic” Spanish life.

A local writer says yes, bicyclists have a right to ride on Malaysian roads, but have to ride single file under every circumstance.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar surged at the finish to take stage four of the Tour de France, marking his 100th career victory, while pulling even in overall time with race leader Mathieu van der Poel, who retained the yellow jersey for one last day. Meanwhile, a 22-year old Scotsman was stunned to find himself just off the podium.

Bike Radar offers 11 surprising things you need to know about Pogačar. Some of which actually are, but none of which you actually do. 

A UK site examines how the Tour is mitigating its environmental impacts.

All 11 bikes stolen from the Cofidis cycling team before the Tour’s second stage have now been recovered by police across the border in Belgium, though no arrests appear to have been made.

USA Today looks back to the deep, dark days of the 1980’s, when America’s only remaining Tour de France winner was dominating the race, despite a shotgun blast to the gut.

Meanwhile, women are still racing, even if they’re overshadowed by the Tour, as Dutch pro Lorena Wiebes took a crash-filled stage three of the Giro D’Italia Donne, while Britain’s Anna Henderson retained the pink leader’s jersey after a late crash that involved all but 10 riders, resulting in almost the entire peloton receiving the same time.

 

Finally…

That feeling when even husbands of Bachelorette stars aren’t safe from hit-and-run drivers. Or when you try nearly every bike bag known to man before finding one you can live with.

And a new study shows that saddle height and setback, pedaling intensity, rider height, and sex can affect comfort in the lower limbs.

Although it should be obvious that sex on a bike saddle would affect the lower limbs — especially this one.

Or so I’m (ahem) told.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Entries  
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee