Day 276 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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He almost gets it.
A columnist for the Washington Post writes about the onslaught of teens on e-motos, almost — but not quite — distinguishing the “e-bike menace” of non-street legal electric motorbikes and dirt bikes from standard ped-assist ebikes.
I was in Hermosa Beach, California, the sweetest little beach town your toes can dig into, when I pressed the crosswalk button. The flashing lights came on, meaning: let’s go. I was one step into the street when a kid about 13 on a bike nearly sent me to my obituary.
But not just any bike. This was one of those e-motorbikes. Have you seen these things? They look like Suzuki dirt bikes, only cooler, quicker and deadlier, since you don’t hear them coming…
But this kid wasn’t just riding his. He was pulling a wheelie on the thing while doing about 40 mph. His front wheel was up so high, it nearly took my face off. Which means he wasn’t looking at any stupid flashing crosswalk lights.
Never mind that under California law, and most states who’ve copied it, ebikes are limited to a max of 28 mph, making anything that can go anywhere near as fast as he said the kid was doing illegal.
But then, he seems to have considered that.
There are tons of e-bike rules and regs, but somehow it’s legal in many states to ride an e-moto on streets as long as it has pedals and can’t go over 28 mph. Kids just go on YouTube and learn how to defeat the speed limiter.
All of which points out the need to clarify the distinction between ped-assist ebikes and e-motorbikes, which Calbike pushed the state legislature to consider this year.
And which they rejected.
Which leaves us with the same problem we’ve faced for the past few years. People who want — or need — a ped-assist ebike to exercise, run errands, replace the family car, or use as a mobility device, are getting lumped in with kids riding overpowered e-motos, and using poor judgement.
Sort of like kids have always done. But with a lot more speed and power at their disposal.
Which means we all get tarred with the same brush.
And the same backlash.
Meanwhile, Seal Beach police claimed a successful crackdown on illegal ebike riding.
A success that consisted of exactly one misdemeanor arrest, three illegal e-motorcycles seized, 22 stops for various traffic violations, and just eight tickets.
Which would suggest that maybe the problem isn’t as big as advertised.
And maybe they would have been better off cracking down on the people in the big, dangerous machines, rather than the little annoying ones.
Today’s photo from Metro Bike Share, showing typical non-teen on non-e-moto.
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I received word yesterday that the funeral for Micah Pan will be held at 4 pm today at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, 4201 Eucalyptus Ave in Chino.
A passionate member of the local bicycling community, Pan was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Chino two weeks ago.
The funeral is open to everyone.
I know it’s short notice, but it would be great to see some members of that same bicycling community show up to support his family.
Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign to help his family get back on their feet has raised over $30,000 of the $35,000 goal.
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It just keeps getting worse.
Because the 17-year boy charged with intentionally running down two 17-year old New Jersey girls riding an ebike turns out to be a relative of the local police chief.
Okay, a distant relative.
But still.
Complicating matters even further, Westfield, New Jersey Police Chief Christopher Battiloro is a close family friend and neighbor of one of the victims.
Must be a small town.
One of the girls had filed a restraining order against her accused killer, while family members said he had been stalking her for months, calling him a “coward of a man.”
The same could presumably be said of the local school district and yes, the police department headed by his “distant” relative, who apparently did nothing to stop him.
A crowdfunding campaign for the two families has raised over $142,000 of the $160,000 goal.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
No bias here. A British driver attacks those “dangerous cyclists” for doing exactly nothing wrong, other than existing on that part of the planet he somehow claims as his own.
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Local
A Jesuit priest finished a three-month, 3,800-mile bike ride across the US at the Santa Monica Pier Wednesday to raise funds for Catholic schools in Belize, where he had lived for over a decade.
Nick Patsaouras, a former Metro board member and president of the late Southern California Rapid Transit District, says he was proud to build the kind of bike paths and greenways now deemed “hostile” to cars by the Trump administration. And yes, that’s the same Patsaouras as in the Patsaouras Bus Plaza in DTLA.
A new analysis reveals Long Beach’s most dangerous corridors for pedestrians, as the city averages nearly one pedestrian crash every day.
State
Riverside’s Light Parade has gone from a casual, lowkey ride to a monthly event drawing around 600 people, prompting a fundraiser to pay for city permits and a police escort.
Oakland’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission dreams of transforming the city’s car-centric roads into a tree-lined paradise, calling for an “all-encompassing” citywide greenway. Sort of like bike riders everywhere — including here in Los Angeles.
National
Momentum consider’s DoorDash’s plans to send thousands of cute little robots crashing into bike lanes. Which might be good for them, but it ain’t good for those of us on bikes, and of questionable legality.
A 26-year old Tucson man is being held on $1 million bail after he was charged with second-degree murder for fatally stabbing a man riding on a bike path; the 44-year old victim had gotten off his bike to confront the suspect for throwing things at members of a group ride, and had started riding away before realizing he’d been stabbed.
Apple AirTags even work in Missoula, Montana, where a man got his stolen ebike back thanks to one he had hidden on his bike.
Wisconsin lawmakers are considering changes to the driver’s license renewal process for elderly drivers, in response to the death of a 12-year old boy killed by an 85-year-old driver while riding his bike.
New York police are once again blaming the victims by ticketing bike riders, rather than drivers, at a Williamsburg intersection where a motorist killed someone riding a bicycle just days earlier.
International
A couple in Winnipeg, Manitoba are calling for safety improvements after they were both injured while riding bicycles at the same intersection just two days apart.
Candidates for mayor of Montreal insist they don’t oppose bicycling, but some don’t support expanding the city’s bike network, even though the limited loss of parking has generally been offset by an increase in retail sales and livability.
Cycling Weekly says bike theft is effectively being legalized in Britain, thanks to a new policy preventing police from investigating thefts of bikes parked at transit stations for more than two hours. Unlike here, where it’s just not worth the cops time to investigate if the bike is worth less than $1,000, which is only a catch and release misdemeanor under California law.
Cambridge, England is getting the country’s first “official cycle street,” giving bicyclists priority over people in cars.
You’ve got to be kidding. Life really is cheap in the UK, where a 32-year old man walked without a day behind bars for killing a 54-year old woman participating in a bicycling time trial, despite admitting he never saw the victim because he was way too busy looking at his phone. But at least he was banned from driving for a whole year. So if you want to know why people keep dying on the streets, overly lenient sentences like this are a damn good place to start.
An 18-year old Dutch woman was randomly attacked while riding her bike in The Hague, when a man in his mid to late teens stabbed her in the leg as she rode past a hotel.
Competitive Cycling
Sad news from Italy, where former pro Stefano Casagranda died following a long battle against cancer; Casagranda raced for eight years, highlighted by winning a snowy Paris-Nice stage in a 62-mile solo breakaway. He was 52.
Mathieu van der Poel marked the end of his cycling season with a nice, relaxing ride with fans in Los Angeles, checking out the city in advance of the ’28 Olympic Games.
UCI cracks down hard on suspected doping by suspending an entire Portuguese cycling team for <checks notes> a whole 20 days. Because apparently there were no wet noodles left to slap them with.
Finally…
If you’re going to ride your mo-ped after drinking, try not to crash into a stopped LAPD patrol car. That feeling when you lock up your bike, and come back to find it’s being used for a stunt jump.
Or when your rocket-powered bicycle can’t even beat an ebike.
Or maybe an e-moto.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
