May 9, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Beverly Hills marks bike month, bike/ped bridge plans safe for now, and prosecution rests in Tour de Palm Springs murder case
Chances are, if you’ve been here awhile, you’ll recall how I used to call Beverly Hills the Biking Black Hole for its complete lack of biking infrastructure.
Not to mention what was, at best, an antagonistic attitude towards bikes on the city’s behalf.
But clearly, things have changed.
They may still have work to do — hello, BHPD! — but Beverly Hills has made a number of improvements on the streets.
It looks like funding for the bridge is secure for now, and officials are moving forward with a required feasibility study, a relative handful of anti-bike NIMBYs notwithstanding .
So I’m told the best course of action, for now, is to hold off on contacting the state senators we listed yesterday.
Or if you still want to reach out, thank them for securing funding for the project.
Maybe George is still busy guiding things and stirring the post from the afterlife.
Huerta is facing a murder charge for the alleged stoned driving death of Mark Kristofferson during the 2018 Tour de Palm Springs, while driving at speeds up to 100 mph.
Without a driver’s license.
He also faces charges for severely injuring Huntington Beach resident Alyson Lee Akers in the same crash, who has been left with lasting injuries.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
The Mark Bixby Memorial Bicycle and Pedestrian Path on the new Long Beach International Gateway Bridge will officially open on Saturday, May 20th. Maybe we can just unofficial shorten that unwieldy title to “the Bixby.”
An Indian man has been sentenced to a year behind bars for killing a 64-year old Singapore man riding a bicycle, after failing to give way at an intersection, and somehow convincing his passenger to take the blame.
No bias here. Retired Olympic cyclist Inga Thompson wants pro cyclists to adopt the anti-racist gesture of taking a knee to “save women’s sports” from trans athletes. In other words, she wants to use a gesture intended to support oppressed minorities to further oppress another oppressed minority. Which is just wrong, regardless of whether or not you approve of trans women competing in women’s sports.
May 8, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Guns versus cars, NIMBYs want to ban beach bike bridge in park named for late bike advocate, and SaMo anti-bike bias
Thank you everyone for the kind comments. I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to me.
I’d like to say I’m better now, but my blood sugar is still more reminiscent of a ballistic missile than a placid stream. And my mental state is still swirling around the drain, in part due to my health issues, and in part due too many stories like the ones below.
The former should get a boost when I see my doctor this week, and impress on her the need for more urgent and aggressive action; the latter should improve once the former does.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t count on the health of our streets getting better anytime soon. Or our society, for that matter.
Now let’s catch up on a little news.
I’ve lost track of who sent me what over the last week, so let me just apologize in advance and thank everyone who sent me something.
The next day, a speeding driver plowed into a crowd of migrants standing outside a homeless shelter in Brownsville, Texas, killing eight people and injuring at least eleven others, in a crash witnesses allege was intentional.
If there is a difference between these two events, it appears to be one without distinction.
The body count is remarkably similar; the only difference is the choice of weapon, and the only question is one of intent. Which something tells me matters not one wit to the victims or their loved ones.
We will continue to fail as a nation, and a society, until we take comprehensive action to rein in guns and cars, and the out-of-control people in possession of both.
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George Wolfberg, right, talks with LA County’s Kristofor Norberg.
I received an email from a friend who lives in the Pacific Palisades area while I was out of commission last week.
She writes that a new park in Potrero Canyon has been named after our mutual friend George Wolfberg, a lifelong civic advocate and volunteer who fought for better beach bike paths, bike lanes and other safety facilities to help Angelenos bike more and drive less, both for cleaner air and to combat climate change, and just for the sheer joy of riding a bike.
George worked on what will now be known as George Wolfberg Park at Potrero Canyon for over 30 years, part of his larger vision of an interconnected Los Angeles.
What he envisioned was a park that would be open to all of the public, an oasis for recreation and beauty, in a fully sustainable environment of coastal native plants, while a restored riparian water capture system would protect the canyon.
And taking nearly eight decades of civic pride and advocacy with him.
But more than just a park, George envisioned a bikeway that would safely allow average people to ride from downtown Pacific Palisades, through the park and across a bridge to the beach, as well as connecting to the bike path to take riders south to the Metro Expo (E) Line in Santa Monica, or even further to Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Palos Verdes.
The final step seemed to be when Senator Ben Allen and others earmarked $11 million for the bridge and bikeway,
But as we’ve seen too often in the past, someone always seems to step in at the last minute to throw a wrench in the whole thing.
In this case, it’s a group of wealthy NIMBY homeowners who bizarrely don’t want bikes of any kind to besmirch a park honoring a lifelong bike advocate.
Here’s how she described it.
HOWEVER, there is a group of homeowners in the Palisades with homes on or near the rim of the park who have been very vocal about not wanting any bicycles or any type or e-bikes to be allowed in the park (which goes against what the community came to agreement upon years ago). They are making a lot of noise and asking to return the funds and cancel the bridge.
Even though the Coastal Development Permit for the Potrero Canyon Park requires access to the beach;
The Recreation and Park Board of Commissioners’ approval for the George Wolfberg Park at Potrero Canyon envisions a bridge access across PCH to the beach parking lot;
A bridge would provide safe passage across PCH rather than the danger of people trying to cross through the traffic on foot;
The bridge is also something that Caltrans supports (and it does not support adding a crosswalk or light at that location).
Yes, they want to cancel an already funded, and potentially life-saving, bike project.
Where have we heard that before?
But here’s the problem.
Because it was assumed that this was moving forward and funds were set aside, elected officials are only hearing from people opposed to the project, and not from anyone advocating FOR the bridge.
To complicate matters, supporters of the project only learned about the opposition last Wednesday, while the vote is set for this Wednesday, May 10.
Which means if you want a bike path and connectivity to the beach via a safe bridge over PCH, you need to speak up now.
No, now.
Email your support to the following California state senators today —
Because banishing bikes from a park named for one of their biggest advocates would be this city’s ultimate bike fail.
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Speaking of NIMBYs, a group of motorists are once again raising their anti-bike heads to demand the removal of a SoCal bikeway, this time Santa Monica’s new 17th Street bikeway project.
And once again, they are arguing that a Complete Streets project designed to improve safety for everyone somehow makes them less safe for people in motor vehicles.
Which is just a socially acceptable way of saying they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and are willing to risk sacrificing human lives for their God-given right to go zoom! zoom! to their hearts content.
Calbike is asking you to email the California State Senate and the Senate Budget Committee to demand that California policymakers to “divest from regressive road-building” and invest $10 billion in Complete Streets and California’s transportation future. Works for me.
This is who we share the road with, too. A Corona man was found guilty of killing three teenagers, and critically injuring three others, when he ran their car off the road and into a tree, for the crime of playing Ding Dong Ditch and speeding off after mooning him.
Hundreds of people rode their bikes in the annual Davis Loopalooza, as residents tried to reclaim their city in the wake of a serial stabber who killed two people, including one who was killed as he rode his bike through a local park.
A Spokane, Washington woman is — allegedly — a two-time hit-and-run loser, charged with killing two people after getting drunk and falling asleep behind the wheel, a decade after she was convicted of fleeing the scene after killing a bike rider. Which is precisely why drivers should lose their license for life after a single hit-and-run, because they’ve shown themselves to be unwilling to obey even the most basic requirement for driving. Let alone human decency.
The definition of chutzpah. An Arizona driver, apparently dissatisfied with the gentle caress on the wrist he received for the hit-and-run crash that killed a bike rider, appealed his conviction and sentence of less than six months behind bars and five years probation; thankfully, the appeals court politely told him to pipe down and do his time.
A Pittsburgh columnist argues the city should commit to zero traffic deaths by 2035. Although as we’ve learned the hard way, it’s one thing to commit to no traffic deaths, but it’s another to get elected leaders to actually invest the money and make the hard choices to make it happen.
This is why people keep dying on our streets. The Washington Postlooks at DC’s failure to rein in dangerous drivers, as one motorist manages to run up $186,000 in unpaid traffic fines. Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the streets until its too late.
And fortunately, this helped mitigate the trauma caused when Britain’s new figurehead not only failed to include a regiment of royal corgis in the coronation parade, but didn’t even his loyal four-foot soldiers a shoutout.
https://t.co/eVnISQLK8h does it for me without sound even! OR failing for me an oldy so maybe not seen too recently? [The AI pics are insensitive this is real woman and dog! (if marketing )]https://t.co/qwuTTzOt7d
April 27, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Huerta on trial for Tour de Palm Springs death, examining the racial gap in traffic deaths, and too little too late for LA mom
We’ve got a lot of ground to cover today, so settle in and let’s get to it.
Huerta was allegedly stoned and driving at up to 100 mph when he lost control of his car and plowed into the Lake Stevens, Washington man and 48-year-old Huntington Beach resident Alyson Lee Akers as they were riding their bikes.
Kristofferson died at the scene, while Akers miraculously survived the impact despite suffering significant head trauma, resulting in lasting injuries.
Huerta was arrested after he was detained by witnesses as he tried to escape into the desert.
He faces charges of second-degree murder, driving under the influence of drugs resulting in great bodily injury, reckless driving and driving on a suspended license.
NBC Palm Springs had this to say about Huerta’s driving history prior to the crash.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, Huerta was a repeat traffic offender, racking up seven citations over a two- year span for speeding, failing to obey traffic signals and signs, making unsafe lane changes and driving while distracted due to use of a cellular telephone.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended his driving privileges in 2017 because he had accumulated so many points on his record that he was deemed a “negligent operator” of a vehicle and unsafe to be on the road, the brief said.
Huerta had been suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana during a Desert Hot Springs police investigation in January 2017 stemming from his plowing through a stop sign on Palm Drive. However, no charges were filed due to a lack of conclusive results in blood screenings that were done after his arrest, according to court papers.
Despite that, he still retained possession of his car, so he able to get behind the wheel despite his horrendous driving record and lack of a valid license.
Across the US — and right here in Los Angeles — your risk of dying in a traffic collision increases exponentially if you live in a community populated primarily by people of color, as well as lower income neighborhoods.
Which are too often the same thing.
The design of our cities is partly to blame for these troubling disparities. Pedestrian and cyclist injuries tend to be concentratedin poorer neighborhoods that have a larger share of Black and Hispanic residents. These neighborhoods share a history of under-investment in basic traffic safety measures such as streetlights, crosswalks and sidewalks, and an over-investment in automobile infrastructure meant to speed through people who do not live there. Recent research from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, found that formerly redlined neighborhoods — often the targets of mid-century “slum clearance” projects that destroyed residences and businesses to allow for new arterial roads and highways — had a strong statistical association with increased pedestrian deaths. The neighborhoods graded D for lending risk by the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation had more than double the pedestrian fatality rate than neighborhoods graded A.
He writes that on a per mile basis, Black people are more than twice as likely to be struck and killed by a vehicle as white pedestrians, while fatality rates for Black bicyclists are a whopping 4.5 times higher than white cyclists.
For Hispanic walkers and bikers, the death rates were 1.5 and 1.7 times higher, respectively, than they are for white Americans using the same modes of transportation.
Then he brings it home for those of us living here in LA.
In Los Angeles, for instance, a 2020 analysis by U.C.L.A. researchers found that although Black residents made up 8.6 percent of the city’s population, they represented more than 18 percent of all pedestrians killed and around 15 percent of all cyclists. From 2016 to 2020, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had more pedestrian deaths than any other metro area in the United States and a pedestrian death rate higher than the metropolitan areas around New York, Philadelphia or Washington…
Last year, 312 people died in traffic accidents in Los Angeles, the majority of them pedestrians and cyclists. “If 300 people died of something in the city, whether it was something violent or whether it was something else like Covid, the resources were put behind it to try to prevent those things, to respond to those things,” said Eunisses Hernandez, a member of the Los Angeles City Council. “We have not seen that same urgency with people dying in traffic accidents as pedestrians and as cyclists.”
Shameful doesn’t begin to describe it.
The solution, he says, is investing in safer road design with proven interventions like “narrowing streets, reducing the amount of space devoted to cars, enforcing speed limits and adding trees to provide visual cues for drivers to slow down.”
And he adds,
City planners must recognize that we all should be able to walk or ride a bicycle through our own neighborhood without fearing for our life.
It’s well worth a few minutes of your day to read the whole thing.
Go ahead, we’ll wait.
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Call it yet another example to too little, too late.
Which raises the obvious question of what the hell took them so long — particularly since the city has ostensibly had a Safe Routes to Schools program for the past several years?
And why the hell do we always have to wait until someone is needlessly killed before making even the smallest safety improvements?
At least they’re doing something now. Too late for an innocent mother and her equally innocent child.
Americans are in a toxic relationship with their automobiles. They’re bad for us—polluting, noisy, and increasingly dangerous to pedestrians—yet we remain fully committed to them. They’re also bad at their primary function: transport.
The program will be limited to California residents 18 or older, with a gross annual household income less than 300% of the federal poverty level.
The station reports that the standard tax credit will be $1,000, with an additional $750 for cargo or adaptive ebikes.
You can also receive another $250 if you live in a a disadvantaged or low-income community, or have a gross income 225% of the federal poverty level, or less.
Streets For All reminds you to take the survey about changes to Eagle Rock Blvd between Colorado and York boulevards, and select Option 2, which they say is “safest for cyclists, widens sidewalks, adds more sidewalk trees and preserves the most parking (ie. less likely to experience community pushback).”
San Diego continues to make massive payouts to settle personal injury lawsuits, with the latest example a $2.95 million settlement for a man who suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was thrown off his bike after hitting sunken pavement in the city’s Bay Ho neighborhood, and now suffers permanent disabilities. Thanks to Phillip Young for the link.
This is who we share the road with. A Temescal Valley man is on trial for murder in the hit-and-run death of three teenagers, and critically injuring three others, when he allegedly ran them off the road in a fit of rage after one of the teens rang his doorbell and mooned him before speeding off in their car; he also claims he seldom drinks, but somehow chugged two six-packs of beer in two and a half hours before the crash, yet was miraculously driving under control, “even using his turn signals” as he pursued their car. Sure, that’s credible.
The Kelly Clarkson Showfeatures Sacramento’s Mercy Pedalers, a religious nonprofit that uses bikes to distribute water, food and other vital resources to the city’s homeless residents.
A bill in the Oregon legislature targeting civil disorder has bike advocates worried that it could ensnare people protesting while riding a bike or corking an intersection on charges of engaging in paramilitary activity.
The family of a Pittsburgh man tased to death by cops for the crime of test riding a bicycle he thought was abandoned has reached a super secret settlement with the city; five officers were fired over the incident, while three others were disciplined.
The chair of New York’s city council transportation committee insists local community boards should have veto power over street safety projects. Which would turn New York’s successful traffic safety work into the same failed system we suffer with in Los Angeles, where councilmembers overrule any and every project in their districts.
Two new bike lanes across the Mississippi River from New Orleans are causing confusing among apparently easily confused drivers and local officials, with contradictory complaints that one lacks protective barriers, and the other one doesn’t.
And when you’re riding your bike with an outstanding arrest warrant, stop for the damn stop sign, already — and don’t fight with the cops after leading them on a bicycle chase.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
March 16, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Arrest made in San Pedro hit-and-run, memorial ride for Dr. Mammone, and CD5’s Yaroslavsky joins Metro board
Too often, hit-and-run drivers get away with their crimes.
She was reportedly under the influence at the time of the crash, and on her way to another bar when she slammed into Montoya, who was just picking up an order from a food truck.
Lockhart was being held on $100,000 bond on a charge of felony hit-and-run; it’s not clear if she’s still in custody.
The Big Bear Cycling Association has more information on Saturday’s memorial ride for Dr. Michael Mammone, who was murdered while riding his bike on PCH in Laguna Beach last month, by a man apparently suffering from mental illness.
The cycling community has rallied in an effort to honor the life and contribution of Dr. Michael Mammone.
With support from Providence Mission Hospital Foundation a celebration of life and ride has been organized on Saturday March 18th, 2023 at the Leonard Cancer Institute at Mission Hospital 27799 Medical Center Road Mission Viejo.
All cycling groups small and large are encouraged to ride to the event. We ask that your ride does not “start” or “end” at the hospital but instead “STOP” at the event no later than 11:00 A.M. Groups should plan their own independent rides and converge at the event.
Armbands (optional/free) to be worn on the ride may be picked up at Rock n Road Cyclery, at all 4 Orange County locations and Specialized of Costa Mesa, any time prior to the day of the event and worn on your group rides that day.
For those individuals and families wishing to attend without riding to the event, free parking will be provided on the first three levels with the rooftop level reserved for standing room only attendance.
Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.
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Los Angeles CD5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky will take former Councilmember Mike Biden’s place on the Metro board, which should be good news for active transportation.
The San Diego Bike Coalition is teaming with Families for Safe Streets San Diego for a hard-hitting new poster campaign calling attention to the record number of traffic deaths in the county.
The group is looking for volunteers to help put up posters around the city this Saturday. You can learn more and RSVP here.
The war on cares may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
He gets it. A writer for The Spectatorcalls on everyone to stop demonizing bike riders, and give colleagues a pass for showing up in the office in a bit of Lycra, because more people on bicycles benefits everyone.
But sometimes, its the people on two wheels behaving badly.
An assistant to a Baton Rouge, Louisiana judge was lucky to escape unscathed after she nearly hit a pair of teenaged bike riders, who responded by shooting her in the arm; the same suspects reportedly stole a running pickup minutes later, then repeatedly shot the driver when he tried to reclaim it after they crashed into a stop sign with their bikes in the truck bed.
She gets it. A Solano Beach letter writer says that the increase in bicycling collisions isn’t because bicyclists are riding in an unsafe manner, but rather, “due to the explosion in popularity of ebikes, more people are biking on our unsafe roads.”
San Jose will use a $2 million federal grant to fund a design study on how to transform a six lane highway into a boulevard with dedicated transit lanes and protected bike lanes; nicknamed Blood Alley, Monterey Road has long been the city’s deadliest roadway, with 42 deaths and severe injuries in less than four years. Maybe Malibu could take a few notes on how to transform PCH from SoCal’s deadliest highway into the Main Street it should be.
San Francisco opened a two-way bikeway on Battery Street, which Streetsblog’s Roger Ruddick bitingly describes as “just more paint, plastic, and prayers masquerading as ‘protection.'”
A Dublin, Ireland man filed a multi-million euro lawsuit alleging he suffered a catastrophic brain injury slamming his head into a series of bollards, despite wearing a helmet, after losing control of his ebike hitting a low curb on a protected bike lane.
Life is cheap in Ireland, where a former bus driver walked without a single day behind bars for killing a man riding a bicycle, after playing the universal Get Out of Jail Free card by claiming the sun was in his eyes. Which may or may not be true, but the correct response to being blinded by the sun is to stop until you can see, not keep going until you run over someone.
Twenty-three-year old British cyclist Tom Pidcock is out of Saturday’s Milan-San Remo after he showed mild concussion symptoms following a crash in the final stage of last Sunday’s Tirreno-Adriatico.
Saipov was convicted of killing eight people, and injuring several others, when he drove a rented U-Haul truck down a Manhattan bike path on Halloween Day in 2017.
Several of the other victims suffered life-altering injuries, ranging from paralysis to lost limbs.
Dr. Mammone, an emergency physician with Providence Mission Hospital, was stopped at a red light on PCH in Laguna Beach when he was allegedly intentionally run down from behind by Vanroy Evan Smith, who got out of his car and stabbed Mammone to death, apparently choosing his victim at random.
So when you ride to remember Dr. Mammone this weekend, remember, too, this country’s failed mental health system that led to his murder.
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Some of LA’s leading advocacy groups are teaming up to fight for safer streets.
Although the question is whether street safety advocacy groups Streets For All and Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, weren’t invited, or chose not to play.
Sadly, the tweet below is an all-too typical example of victim blaming, when watching the replay at the end makes it clear the bike rider was right hooked; thankfully, the victim escaped unscathed, even if his bike didn’t.
The first few seconds of this clip have been edited out – the rider wasn’t “bumper-riding” – they were right-hooked by the truck driver. https://t.co/aobkVX1U0M
MotorBiscuitraises the question of whether a bicyclist is a driver or pedestrian, saying bike riders exist in a weird gray area between the two. Which is exactly the problem, since people riding bikes are neither one, but traffic planners, engineers and government officials insist on forcing us into one camp or the other.
Illinois is considering an ebike rebate bill, with a focus on people who receive government assistance or earn less than 300% of the federal poverty level. Which is similar to plans for California’s ebike rebate program, if it ever actually happens.
Momentum Magazine says getting serious about active transportation in Europe means getting serious about eliminating street parking. The same would be true in this country, except eliminating street parking seems to be a nonstarter most places.
Scotland’s Endura bikewear manufacturer takes helmet design to the extreme by auctioning off four bike helmets imprinted with actual CAT scans of bicyclists who suffered life-threatening brain injuries, to benefit The Brain Charity in the UK. I’ll pass, thank you.
Cycling Weekly examines the phenomenon of middle-aged British men geeking out over vintage bikes. In my case, it’s just lusting after the classic bikes I couldn’t afford when I was younger. Then again, I can’t afford them now, either.
Brexit claimed another victim, as the UK distributor for bike brands including Tern Bicycles, Lake, Forme, ETC, Emmelle and MeThree has entered liquidation proceedings.
Let me offer a special thanks to a longtime friend of this site, who made an unexpected donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way every day, which literally came in five minutes before an automatic payment would have bounced.
Mammone was murdered two weeks ago by a man suffering from mental illness, who first ran the emergency room physician down with his car on SoCal’s killer highway as he waited at a Dana Point traffic light on his mountain bike, then got out of his car and stabbed the injured bike rider to death.
Mammone leaves behind his wife and two sons; the couple was about to celebrate their 30 years of marriage with a trip to Italy.
His death was just a needless waste of a precious human life, all because his killer was allowed to fall through the cracks of America’s failed system for treating the mentally ill.
And because Vanroy Evan Smith was allowed to keep driving, despite his apparently untreated paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Photo of ghost bike for Dr. Michael Mammones by Walt Arrrrr.
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Ted Faber sends photographic proof the Jackson Street gate to the Ballona Creek Bike Path is now open.
The Bike League will host a webinar next month on how to write a strongly worded letter to the local paper.
On Friday, March 3rd, at 2 pm ET, we will host the first of several FREE bike advocacy training webinars in 2023! Learn about the essential elements of writing a letter to the editor so that you can publicize the voice of people #biking and #walking ➡️ https://t.co/eKimPG65Ckpic.twitter.com/hRkIR21iIi
Spectrum News 1 highlights five SoCal bike paths, from Ventura’s Rincon Bike Trail to the Mount Rubidoux Trail in Riverside, and down to San Diego’s Bayshore Bikeway.
They get it, too. Santa Cruz is moving forward with a long-delayed bike lane project on Soquel Drive, calling them buffered bike lanes with flex posts. Unlike Los Angeles, which insists on calling them protected bike lanes, even though the flimsy plastic posts won’t stop anything.
Residents of New York’s upscale Upper West Side are opposing plans for an outdoor ebike hub for food delivery workers, arguing it will increase congestion and block access to the nearby subway. Apparently confusing bicycles, which relieve congestion, with the cars that cause it.
February 16, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Speeding off-duty deputy faces murder charge, a bike day Sunday on Pasadena Freeway, and new LA bike lanes
Twenty-eight-year old Ricardo Castro was allegedly driving at up to 90 mph in a school zone when he T-boned the car carrying Isaiah Rodriguez and his sister.
The proposal would open a six-mile section of the 110 Freeway to bicyclists, skaters and pedestrians for just four hours on Sunday, October 29th.
The first ArroyoFest in 2003 also closed the freeway to cars, opening it up to bicyclists and walkers for a few short hours.
The freeway follows the route of the 1899 California Cycleway. Unfortunately, however. only two miles of the elevated wooden bikeway were built before financial problems halted construction, and cars ultimately claimed the roadway.
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New protected bike lanes are appearing in LA’s Lake Balboa neighborhood, and painted bike lanes are coming to Fountain Ave in East Hollywood.
No bias here. A New York State senator is proposing laws requiring all bicycles to be registered, plated and insured, in an apparent attempt to keep people from riding them.
Speeding lawless bikers & E bikers cause accidents, injuries & fatalities with others using them to flee crimes. I proposed a package of bills to force all bikes & e scooters be registered, plated and insured. Right now, with no regulation, victims have no recourse! 1 Road-1 Rule pic.twitter.com/OOsU2HDPrS
In yet another example of officials keeping dangerous drivers on the road until its too late, Streetsblog examines why states require insurance companies to cover drivers in an assigned risk pool when their driving record is so bad no company will insure them, rather than just taking their licenses away. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
Jackson, Wyoming considers ebikes, buses and parking meters to alleviate congestion, after a study shows it would case billions of dollars to widen a highway, while causing environmental concerns for the local ecology and wildlife. Never mind that induced demand applies to roads in Rocky Mountain resorts, too.
No bias here, either. Britain’s Independent Press Standards Organization ruled the Mail on Sunday didn’t breach ethics rules by publishing a composite photo of bike riders running a red light outside Buckingham Palace, under the headline Red Light Rats. Even though the road was actually closed to cars, and cops waved them through the intersection.
It’s not usual for a bike rider to be called a hero, but saint is another matter. A Spanish man could be considered for sainthood for his role in attempting to stop terrorists in Britain’s London Bridge attack, when he got off his bike to defend others with his skateboard; the Pope recently changed the rules to allow sainthood for someone who lays down their life for others.
A new safety campaign founded by Australian pro Rachel Neylan encourages bike riders to use bright running lights day and night; the campaign has been endorsed by two-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar, and former women’s world champ Elisa Balsamo. I found close calls and close passes dropped considerably when I started riding with at least two bright headlights and two to three bright taillights, day or night.
The paper talked Friday with Vanroy Evan Smith, who’s being held on $1 million bond after being charged with murder in Mammone’s death.
Smith confessed to the killing in the chilling interview, relating that he apparently picked Mammone at random as he drove around looking for a victim, after buying the machete allegedly used in the attack at a gun shop earlier that day.
Yet he expects to be set free, because he is “entitled to commit murder because he is both God and Jesus Christ.”
Oh. Okay then.
In a rambling, hourlong interview with a Southern California News Group reporter, Vanroy Evan Smith cited end-of-world scriptures from the Bible’s Book of Revelation and said that if the public knew he was the Messiah and the “king of kings,” they would think differently about him and his crime.
“I have killed,” Smith, 39, said during the interview at Orange County’s Intake Release Center in Santa Ana. “If they knew who I was, they would let me walk out of here. They would fulfill all my desires.”
And despite his diagnosis, he was allowed to continue driving a multi-ton vehicle that can be weaponized on a whim, even through he wouldn’t be allowed to purchase or carry a gun.
He chose Mammone as his victim, in part, because he would not kill a woman.
According to the paper, Smith awoke that day fully expecting to kill someone before the day was over, “adding that he has long been plagued by troubling ‘communications’ from others and conflict because of his mixed-race heritage.”
After purchasing the knife, Smith recounted that he began driving around and felt compelled to run over Mammone and stab him. “It was my right,” he said, rubbing his hand against his eyes while adding that he feels no remorse for the killing. “He was in the crosswalk and presented himself.”
35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”“Nothing,” they answered.
36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
He also said he had a BB gun he intended as a distraction, confirming some reports that he had a gun, though not that he used it.
Smith told the Register he had no regrets about the killing.
Smith, meanwhile, said he has found peace after 10 days in jail, placing at bay some of his demons typically exacerbated by heavy drinking, marijuana use and consorting with prostitutes.
He said he hopes to eventually meet with Mammone’s family. “I didn’t want to cause anyone pain,” he said.
No, he just wanted to kill someone. Because in his mind, he was God, and apparently, that’s what gods do.
I can think of nothing more chilling than a driver who decides to deliberately kill another human being, for no more reason than the person was there, exposed and vulnerable.
And he just, you know, felt like it.
Nothing personal.
Photo of ghost bike for Dr. Michael Mammones by Walt Arrrrr.
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Vanroy Smith wasn’t the only one who decided to use his car as a weapon recently.
Fox News is repeating unproven claims the Dana Point killer muttered “white privilege” while fatally stabbing Dr. Michael Mammone last Wednesday.
The network had apparently removed references to the statement from their earlier stories, but resumed claims Tuesday that 39-year old Vanroy Evan Smith had made the racist comments after brutally running Mammone down from behind as he waited at a red light on his mountain bike, then getting out of his car and stabbing the Laguna Beach emergency physician to death.
Fox based their story on a report from a Chicago ABC affiliate, which cited a “neighbor” who declined to be interviewed on camera, but who claimed to have heard the comment after running outside, following what sounded like a gunshot.
The Orange County DA’s office also said they were unaware of the allegations. And those closer to the incident, such as the witnesses who disarmed Smith following the stabbing, have apparently said nothing to support the allegations of racial bias in the attack.
Photo of Dr. Mammone ghost bike by Photo by Walt Arrrrr.
Milavetz was sentenced to spend three years in county jail for an assortment of misdemeanor counts, including drug possession charges. He will then be transferred to state prison to serve another ten years for manslaughter and other felonies.
He pled guilty to running Shinn down from behind while she was riding in the painted bike lanes on Pershing Drive.
After the crash, witnesses saw Milavetz run across the street to toss a bag over a fence, which was later determined to contain several smaller bags of meth. Police also found meth, fentanyl and hypodermic needles in his car following his arrest.
But seriously, with do we really need another West Coast IPA? How about a nice dunkel, doppelbock or black lager for a change?
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Allow me to offer a correction from yesterday’s post.
The tweet below portrays new bike lanes on Central Ave in South LA, not Alameda in DTLA as I somehow insisted, even though it says Central Ave right there in the tweet.
New parking-protected bike lanes – with nice concrete bus islands – under construction (north end nearly done) on Central Ave – from Century to Imperial pic.twitter.com/6i9NNdovLV
Hi @CurrenDPriceJr@BSSLosAngeles is about to repave Pico between Figueroa and LA Live. At Council last year you remarked how slow the city was to implement its own mobility plan. Here, the mobility plan calls for bike lanes on Pico. Will you instruct @LADOTofficial to implement? pic.twitter.com/Q9Me4h4E1j
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A Santa Barbara writer complains about bicyclists “hurtling” along the State Street promenade, claiming it’s only a matter of time before someone hits “one or more unsuspecting people out for a leisurely stroll.” Never mind that a green bike lane had to be removed from the street because people wouldn’t stop walking in it.
Urbanize says a decade-old Complete Streets proposal for South LA’s Broadway-Manchester corridor is still alive and kicking; the $46 million makeover would include a four-mile Class IV cycle track, pedestrian and bicyclist amenities, and hundreds of new trees. Both streets are on the city’s High Injury Network for the sadly neglected Vision Zero program.
A pair of bills in the Virginia legislature would allow bike riders to legally proceed on leading pedestrian intervals, as well as legalizing the Idaho Stop for stop signs and traffic signals.
If you’re not interested, or the subject understandably makes you uncomfortable, you may want to skip down to the next section.
Mammone was riding his mountain bike north on PCH when he stopped at the red light at Crown Valley Parkway around 3 pm Wednesday.
That’s when a white Lexus allegedly driven by 39-year old Long Beach resident Vanroy Evan Smith slammed into him from behind, traveling fast enough to blow through the red light, despite the impact with Mammone’s bike.
Smith then got out of his car, walked back to Mammone and repeatedly stabbed him as he lay injured in the street; Mammone died less than three hours later in the same Providence Mission Hospital ER where he sometimes worked.
Smith was disarmed by a pair of witnesses who detained him until police arrived.
Frighteningly, there is no known connection between the two men, and nothing to suggest it was a case of road rage — though that remains one of the most likely explanations — making the crash appear to be totally random at this time.
Smith faces 25 to life, plus one year, after he was arraigned Friday on a charge of felony murder, with a felony enhancement for the personal use of a knife. He pled not guilty, and is currently being held on $1 million bail.
That does not necessarily mean those things did not happen, but there is currently nothing to confirm either accusation. Although RssRyan relates in a lengthy Twitter conversation that a neighbor heard the alleged racist statement, and will be speaking with prosecutors.
We need to be careful spreading rumors that may ultimately prove to be false.
There is a danger that these reports being spread on conservative media may lead to confirmation bias among some in their audience, incorrectly confirming their false beliefs about people of color.
They could also be used as justification by someone with racist views to retaliate against the next Black or brown bike rider they see.
The victim was reportedly standing in the bike lane when he was struck by a bicycle ridden by a 63-year-old man. He apparently hit his head on the pavement, suffering a skull fracture and brain bleed, while the bike rider suffered a cut above his left eye.
Anyone with information is urged to call the San Diego Police Department Traffic Division at 888/580-8477.
Streetsblog looks at the newly unveiled semi-protected bike lanes on Central Ave in South LA. Correction: I originally mistakenly assumed they were on Alameda in DTLA. My apologies.
New parking-protected bike lanes – with nice concrete bus islands – under construction (north end nearly done) on Central Ave – from Century to Imperial pic.twitter.com/6i9NNdovLV
Nice to see Jersey City NJ bicyclists aren’t taking the case of the hit-and-run councilwoman lying down.
DeGise was convicted after pleading guilty to hit-and-run for fleeing when she crashed into a bike rider last year; that alone should be an automatic disqualification for public office.
Instead, she walked with a slap on the wrist when the judge fined her five grand and suspended her license for a whole year.
VeloNewslooks at LA’s Bahati Foundation, founded by former national crit champ Rahsaan Bahati to help children of color succeed in life through bicycling.
