Tag Archive for Newport Beach

Repeat DUI driver busted in fatal Newport Beach hit-and-run, and stoned distracted driver charged in killing of KC father of ten

September 15, 2022 / / One comment

Before we get started, our old friend Walt Arrrrr discovered a ghost bike installed in Baldwin Park.

After tracking it down, he discovered the victim was killed in a collision that barely made the news last month.

I’ll have more information later today.

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The driver who killed 44-year old Costa Mesa resident Randon Cintron as he rode his bike on Jamboree Road in Newport Beach was arrested shortly after the crash.

Thirty-six-year old Anaheim resident Adriana Rivera Bernal was taken into custody a couple miles from the crash site.

Bernal was reportedly high on an undisclosed drug at the time of the crash, and held on $1 million bond on suspicion of murder and hit-and-run.

She reportedly has a long history of drug abuse, petty theft, ID theft and auto theft, as well as multiple DUIs, which explains the murder charge.

A crowdfunding campaign to pay Cintron’s funeral expenses has raised over $29,000, easily topping the $20,000 goal.

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For anyone who, like me, has been following the case of the Kansas City teacher and father of ten children who was killed by an allegedly stoned hit-and-run driver, a crowdfunding campaign has raised over $204,000 of the $250,000 goal.

Meanwhile, the 27-year old driver has been charged with felony counts of hit-and-run resulting in death, and tampering with a motor vehicle; she reportedly admitted to police she was texting and high on Percocet when she ran the victim down, and allegedly set fire to her car afterward to coverup the crime.

She was also uninsured and driving on a suspended license.

More proof that taking a driver’s license away doesn’t necessarily stop anyone from driving. Officials have to impound the car, too.

Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.

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Sometimes, you just have to save drivers from themselves.

Even if they don’t thank you for it.

https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1570134505763278848

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No car, no wilderness for you.

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People for Mobility Justice is hosting a ride to examine bike and pedestrian safety improvements in Wilmington .

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Any LCIs want to help out in Menifee this Saturday?

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Walk ‘n Rollers is heading to Culver City to celebrate my birthday host a Walk & Roll Festival on the 24th.

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Mark your calendar for next month.

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Here’s another one to mark your calendar for.

https://twitter.com/NYC_SafeStreets/status/1570101221150846977

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There’s just something about this one that draws you in.

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Sure, go to Australia to train for the Worlds.

But watch out for flying ‘roos.

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That feeling when one little missing letter changes the whole meaning of the headline.

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

No bias here. A candidate for West Hollywood city council comes out in favor of keeping Fountain Ave dangerous, as John Duran says he’s running to “kill Council’s dumb ideas,” like replacing traffic lanes with bike lanes — even though the city estimates it will reduce crashes 35% to 40%.

A New Orleans public radio station examines a proposal to remove protected bike lanes from the usually neglected Algiers neighborhood, because some local residents find the bollards the “most intrusive, visually unappealing design available.” Because evidently, aesthetics matter more than saving human lives. 

A British transportation planner argues against taking the lane, suggesting that it just pisses drivers off.

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

A 56-year old Long Beach man faces charges for stabbing a couple outside a gay bar following a dispute, killing one man and seriously injuring another, before fleeing on his bicycle. A crowdfunding campaign to help pay the victims’ funeral costs and medical expenses has raised $37,000 of the $50,000 goal.

Multiple cars were hit with rocks thrown by a Portland man riding a bicycle and pulling a bike trailer; police cited the homeless bike rider for criminal mischief, adding to the 42 other citations he’s received recently.

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Local

A man riding his bicycle in South LA was struck twice with bullets after hearing multiple gunshots, but was apparently unaware of where the shots came from.

That’s more like it. A 136-unit apartment building planned for LA’s Sawtelle neighborhood will feature 103 bicycle parking spaces, and just 93 spaces for cars.

Pasadena approves a list of 19 priority transportation projects using money Metro saved by not building an overpass on Colorado Blvd; half of the projects involve multimodal uses. Demonstrating that funds can actually be put to good use — a lot of good uses, in fact — instead of wasted on expensive, demand-inducing highway projects. 

Santa Monica made the list of eight small cities with bike friendly cultures, joining more established locations like Wisconsin’s Mad City, Boulder, CO and my Colorado hometown.

Long Beach’s Beach Streets carfree open streets event returns this Saturday, after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus.

 

State 

Streetsblog is urging Gov. Newsom to veto AB 371, which would make bikeshare and e-scooter providers solely responsible for the negligent or reckless behavior of riders.

Electrek is teaming with Irvine-based e-bikemaker Super73 for a ride through Orange County Saturday evening. Even though the website uses a very expansive definition of Los Angeles.

Nice gesture, as Orange County residents contributed over 200 bouquets to continue the charitable work of eight-year old Bradley Rofer, who was killed riding his bike in Coto de Caza earlier this month; he donated the money he raised selling bouquets to support young cancer patients.

San Diego’s Blind Stoker’s Club is in the mix for a grant of up to $15,000.

Goleta will host a public meeting on September 20th to consider the San Jose Creek Bike Path Project, following the completion of the environmental review.

The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition is hosting their Bike to the Future annual fundraising ride on Sunday.

Oakland police still haven’t made an arrest in the hit-and-run involving an impatient driver during the monthly East Bay Bike Party, even though the department was presented with eyewitness accounts and the driver’s license plate number.

 

National

Writing for Outside, bike scribe Joe Lindsey makes the case for why you should buy an ebike instead of an EV.

The National Law Review examines the high cost of bicycle crashes, and the obvious cost-effectiveness of avoiding crashes in the first place.

A British boy features in a typical Facebook scam, as photos keep popping up saying he was struck by a driver September 4th in several different US towns; the boy was actually hit by a car in Grimsby, England three months earlier, while an accompanying photo of a bicycle comes from a 2021 crash in Santa Rosa.

How Google Maps could tweak their algorithms to make bicycling safer and more appealing.

Tomorrow’s Dateline NBC season premier will examine the murder of gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas, and the arrest of her accused love triangle killer Kaitlin Armstrong.

A former St. Louis drug dealer turned his life around by designing and building custom lowrider bicycles.

A Kentucky bike ride will take participants past several distilleries. Which seems like one hell of a wasted opportunity.

Sharing a bike lane with ebikes and scooters is one thing; sharing a New York bike lane with motorized lawn chairs is another.

A new study shows Philadelphia bikeshare use crossed geographic and socio-economic lines during the pandemic.

Drivers continue to blow through a DC stop sign, a year after a five-year old girl was killed while riding her bike in the crosswalk.

 

International

World Car-Free Day is one week from today. So how do you plan to celebrate?

Now you, too, can start your own bike brand.

Treehugger’s Lloyd Alter says America’s ebike revolution is in trouble, because too many supposed ebikes aren’t.

No surprise here, as a new study from Chile finds that income inequalities affect the presence and quality of bicycling infrastructure.

A Vancouver researcher uses her bike as a scientific tool to map the area’s bats.

More proof that government officials are the same almost everywhere, as Northern Ireland’s new infrastructure minister reneges on his pledge to introduce legislation to support safer bicycling.

British Cycling has removed a restriction on not riding bicycles during the queen’s funeral, in response to a significant backlash. Although they still would prefer your didn’t.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a man was sentenced to 30 months behind bars for the drunken, wrong way crash that nearly killed a 13-year old boy; he was so wasted the pub he was at cut him off, so he was driving to another to keep drinking when he hit the kid head-on while on the wrong side of the road.

Seriously? A London writer says you’re better off dealing with the city’s traffic than trying to ride a bike in Amsterdam.

Cycling Tips explains how East Africa’s Team Amani became the unlikely stars of Meta’s new ad campaign.

Tragic news from Thailand, where a British couple riding their bikes around the world were killed Wednesday when they were run down by a pickup driver outside of Bangkok.

 

Competitive Cycling

USA Cycling has added six riders to the US team for the Worlds, after fatigue, injuries and the fight for WorldTour teams to avoid relegation have taken a toll of the previous roster.

Cycling Tips debates whether cycling team relegation is a good idea. I’m all for it, myself. 

Our friend Peter Flax travels to Idaho to discover the myriad joys of gravel racing.

As you can see below, not all competitions involve spandex. Or two wheels, for that matter. (“Triporteur” translates to tricycle.)

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have to train a replacement after your bike-riding parrot dies. When you steal a tow truck, maybe don’t return to the scene of the crime to reclaim your bike.

And bike-riding cats are nothing new. But not many have their own helmet.

https://www.tiktok.com/@heyitsgingerandpepper/video/7142957087075749122?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7142957087075749122&refer=embed&referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2F&referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fcat-helmet-bike-ride-viral-tiktok-video-1742860&referer_video_id=7142957087075749122

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Update: Man killed riding road bike in Newport Beach hit-and-run; 3rd fatal OC bike crash this month, and 15th this year

September 12, 2022 / / 12 comments

News broke late Sunday morning that a bike rider had been seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver in Newport Beach.

It was this evening before we learned that the victim didn’t survive.

Although as video from the scene makes clear, he never had a chance.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding on the 3000 block of Jamboree Road near Camelback Street when he was struck by a driver around 8:30 am.

The driver fled the scene following the crash.

Initial reports suggested that the victim had suffered major injuries, with a watch commander with the Newport Beach Police Department stated his condition was “not real good.”

As it turned out, that was quite an understatement.

Raw video from the scene shows the coroner arriving and removing the victim’s body from a tent alongside the road, making clear he had died at the scene, and was never even taken to a hospital.

A black road bike can be seen lying in the bike lane with a shattered rear wheel, suggesting that the victim had been run down from behind. Meanwhile, the police tent where his body had been secluded sat a couple dozen yards up the road, making it clear he had been hit with significant force.

The posted speed limit on the street is 55 mph, making the crash almost impossible to survive. There is simply no excuse for speeds that high on any surface streets.

Police were looking for a white sedan with a cracked windshield, no make or model given. However, the Orange County Register reports a driver has been detained for questioning, though it was unclear if they have been arrested.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Newport Beach Police Department at 949/644-3681, or Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855/847-6227.

This is at least the 64th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 15th that I’m aware of in Orange County. That equals the county total for all of 2020, which had been the worst year in recent memory.

It’s also the third fatal bike crash in the county just this month.

Twenty-one of those SoCal deaths have been hit-and-runs.

Note: I’m not embedding the video, since it shows the victim being loaded into the coroner’s van, and his loved ones don’t need to see that.

Update: The Daily Pilot has identified the victim as 43-year old Costa Mesa resident Randon William Cintron. The paper reports a woman was taken into custody two miles away from the crash site; however, she has not been publicly identified. 

According to the website 2urbangirls, the alleged driver was found with her car on the 2100 block of Eastbluff Drive near Corona del Mar High School, where she was detained and arrested. 

Commenters to this story indicate the crash occurred on the uphill side of Jamboree Road, with no driveways or connecting roads that would justify merging into the separated bike lane. 

A crowdfunding campaign has met the $20,000 goal in just one day. 

Update 2: The driver has been identified as 36-year old Anaheim resident Adriana Rivera Bernal. She was reportedly high on an undisclosed drug at the time of the crash. 

Bernal reportedly has a history of drug abuse, petty theft, ID theft and auto theft, as well as multiple DUIs. She’s being held on $1 million bond on charges of murder and hit-and-run, and faced arraignment Tuesday on two previous Orange County arrests. 

Anyone with information is urged to call Newport Beach Police Investigator M. Keyworth at 949/644-3746.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Randon William Cintron and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Oceanside bike lawyer Richard Duquette, Mark Herda, Bill Sellin, Christian and an anonymous source for the heads-up.

 

 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

CDC Bike Safety stats miss mark, Move Culver City adjusts lane markings, and Desmond Tutu was one of us

January 3, 2022 / / Comments Off on CDC Bike Safety stats miss mark, Move Culver City adjusts lane markings, and Desmond Tutu was one of us

Thanks to everyone who helped make the 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive such a big success, with new records for both the number of donations and the total amount — topping last year’s record-setting total by over $1,200!

So please join me in thanking William C, Lois R, Carol K, David D, Julie C, Erik G, Bryan H, Audrey K and Jennifer P for their generous donations to help keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

And let me give a special thanks for the comments so many people made along with their donations, which touched me more than I can begin to say. 

So to everyone who contributed, please accept my undying gratitude. Or at least until next year’s holiday season, when we’ll do it all again. 

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File this one under the heading of you’ve got to be kidding.

The CDC’s Bicycle Safety page helpfully suggests the main risk factors for bike crashes.

Never mind that children and adults over 50 are among the largest bike-riding age groups. Or that the well-documented gender gap means three times as many men as women ride bikes.

Let’s not forget that more people ride bikes in urban areas, simply because there are more people there.

And does it really tell us anything that either the driver or bike rider had been drinking in 37% of bicycling fatalities, without breaking out whether the bike riders or drivers had been drinking, and whether they were actually under the influence or just had a trace amount of alcohol in their blood?

All of which makes this set of risk factors just this side of useless.

And just to be clear, the information on alcohol consumption comes from the 2015 Traffic Safety Fact Sheet Bicyclists & Other Cyclists, which shows that 22% of bike riders killed were legally drunk, compared to 12% of drivers; another 4% in each group had some amount of alcohol in their blood, without being legally drunk.

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Culver City is responding to complaints about the new Move Culver City bike and bus lanes by making adjustments to the lane designs.

Which is exactly how it’s supposed to work.

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Newport Beach’s century-old Balboa Island Ferry will be bikes and pedestrians only for the next month, with cars forced to take the long way around to avoid electrical work near the ferry terminal.

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Turns out even the late, great Bishop Desmond Tutu was one of us.

And yes, I looked it up. He really did say this.

https://twitter.com/_dmoser/status/1475186686816628759

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Literary great Henry Miller was one of us, too.

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1474968213221883908

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So was 1930s Western matinee hero Buck Jones, featured here in a Schwinn brochure produced in the final year of his life.

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1477472640105332737

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Who needs headphones when you ride a bike?

Which seems like an opportunity to remind everyone that it’s illegal under California law to ride a bike with earbuds in, or headphones over, each ear.

Even though someone on a bike would have to have their headphones cranked up pretty damn high before they’d hear as badly as someone in a car with the windows up and the music system on.

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Apparently, I wasn’t the only one struck by the number of bicycles in this year’s Rose Parade.

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

A San Diego grandmother is conducting her own search for the road-raging driver who ran down her 22-year old ebike-riding grandson, making a U-turn to chase down him down in what appears to be an intentional attack. The question is, why was she able to locate security video that the police didn’t?

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 49-year old woman got a lousy fine — the equivalent of just $1,100 — for pushing a 15-year old boy off his bike for the crime of riding on the sidewalk, then bragging about it on Facebook, saying he “wouldn’t be so lucky” the next time.

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

A British doctor is now afraid to walk alone after she was run down from behind by a hit-and-run bike rider descending at high speed; she now wonders if the crash was deliberate.

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Local

LA County sheriff’s deputies blame culture and training for aggressively policing bike riders — usually Latino — in unincorporated areas, despite finding illegal materials in less than 10% of their searches. And don’t forget, you are under no obligation to consent to a search of you or your bike.

Get two-thirds off the cost of a one-year Metro Bike Hub membership through the end of this month.

London’s Daily Mail oddly gets all hot and bothered over Harrison Ford riding the streets of Los Angeles swathed in spandex.

 

State

Electrek visits the sprawling new production facilities for Newport Beach’s Electric Bike Company, which sounds more like a kids show on PBS.

Encinitas will host a carfree Cyclovia for four hours this Sunday.

There’s no lower form of human scum than anyone who would steal an adaptive bike from an 18-year old disabled San Diego woman.

San Diego Trek locations are collecting used bicycles for the next month, hoping to net more than 1,000 bicycles for a bike giveaway in collaboration with the San Diego chapter of Free Bikes 4 Kidz and the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition.

A Highland newspaper complains about a $6.4 million demand from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to offset the environmental effects of a planned Class 1 bike path through the Upper Santa Ana River Wash, which is nearly 50% more than the cost of building the actual pathway.

This is who we share the road with. A two-time DUI loser now faces a murder charge for causing a chain-reaction Palm Springs crash that took the life of a 36-year old former Marine from Chula Vista; 41-year old driver Andrew Watson Hibbard had previous DUI arrests in Oregon and Palm Springs. Just one more example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up. 

Salinas cops and firefighters are competing for the affections of their favorite fan, a teenage boy who rides his bike to follow them around the city; they pitched in together to buy him a new bike after someone stole his.

An Oakland bike thief faces up to 40 years behind bars after he was convicted of fatally shooting a man who was trying to get his bike back as the thief was making off with it.

Sad news from Rancho Cordova, where a bike rider was killed in a collision just trying to cross a roadway Saturday evening.

 

National

Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss says with used car prices going through the roof, there may never be a better time to go carfree. And unlike his other recent columns, this one isn’t hidden behind a paywall.

Fast Company examines how cities across the US are making the temporary changes they’ve made to the streets during the pandemic permanent.

The US Public Interest Group warns about unfixable bikes that are only made to last a matter of months.

The Motley Fool says it’s time for Apple to spend some of its cash, and buy indoor cycling provider Peloton.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list. A 30-mile ride around Oregon’s Crater Lake, at 7,000 feet above sea level with 4,200 feet of elevation gain.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 80-year old New Mexico man continues to ride his titanium bikes every other day, and has biked through France, the UK, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Scotland, Lichtenstein, Spain and New Zealand since he took up bicycling in his early 50s.

A bike pump ordered from Amazon gets the credit for saving a young family from the extreme fires outside Boulder, Colorado last week, after the Amazon driver gave them a lift to safety after trying to deliver their order.

A Kansas woman was convicted of second-degree murder for downing several drinks, then running down a 16-year old girl riding a bicycle and leaving her to die in the street.

She gets it. Writing for The Atlantic, Cleveland-based planner Angie Schmitt says big cars are killing us, and the government can’t keep letting the auto industry treat people walking or on bikes as collateral damage.

Businesses in the Kentucky-Indiana area are collecting bicycles for victims of the recent Kentucky tornadoes.

An editorial from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the public deserves to know why a 51-year old Black man was killed by police, who tased him repeatedly for the crime of riding a discarded bicycle around the block; nine officers have been disciplined for his death, though what that means is still unclear.

Newly sworn-in New York Mayor Eric Adams is one of us, too, riding a Citi Bike bikeshare to his second day at work on Sunday. Thanks again to Victor Bale for the link.

Outgoing New York Mayor Bill de Blasio leaves office with the highest traffic fatality rates of his tenure, despite eight years of the city’s Vision Zero program, which showed promise in its first few years.

Newly released bodycam footage shows a Virginia cop tackling a Black bike rider for the crime of riding without a headlight.

When a Louisiana donut shop employee’s bicycle seat was stolen, kindhearted customers pitched in to buy him a used car. But did anyone bother to ask if he’d rather just have a new bike seat?

This is who we share the road with, too. Florida police arrested a hit-and-run driver who jumped a curb and plowed into a group of little kids on the sidewalk, killing two children and injuring four others. There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for someone who could just drive away after that.

 

International

Cycling Weekly gazes into its crystal ball to predict the top road bike trends of 2022.

An Anchorage, Alaska bike wrench is riding 1,560 miles solo through Baja California to raise funds to fight ALS; he already has $20,000 in pledges, and hopes to raise over $50,000.

A Toronto woman describes how avoiding public transportation during the pandemic turned her into a four season bike rider.

A London college professor explains why you can’t blame bike lanes for an increase in traffic congestion. In London, or anywhere else.

London’s transportation department is under pressure to remove a dangerous pass that sets off a road rage altercation from a new ad urging everyone on the road to try seeing things from the other guy’s perspective. Except there shouldn’t be another side to using a car to threaten the safety of someone on a bike or on foot.

After a local English official criticized new segregated bike lanes, saying drivers now feel hemmed in, an active transportation group does a little expert-level trolling by offering their sympathy for anyone who feels “rather claustrophobic” in their “one ton sofa-carrying steel boxes.”

A Scottish program to help low-income residents buy new ebikes fell flat, after no one took them up on the offer in the first three months, despite 290 people expressing interest.

He gets it. In an op-ed for The Guardian, a writer for Cycling Weekly asks how Britain can ever become a great bicycling nation when people on bicycles are subject to driver abuse, intimidation and terrible infrastructure. Then again, you could say the same thing about any city in the US, Los Angeles included. Or you could, if any of them actually wanted to be one.

Life is cheap in the UK, where relatives and advocates are calling for reforms after a driver got less than six years behind bars for the drunken, distracted hit-and-run that took the life of a 15-year old boy riding his bike.

Road.cc looks back fondly at the ten best British bike brands from the ’70s and ’80s. Any one of which I would have been happy to find in my Christmas stocking.

A game-changing UK traffic cam has captured 15,000 drivers using their cellphones behind the wheel. Which is exactly what we need here. Although drivers would complain about how unfair it is to get caught breaking the law.

A reminder that a driver doesn’t actually have to hit you to cause serious damage, as an Irish bike rider broke his collarbone when he was blown off his bike by the slip stream from a passing truck; needless to say, the driver didn’t bother to stop.

Add this one to your bike bucket list. Because this new cliffhanging Kiwi bikeway is what rail-to-trail conversions are all about.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch national road champion Amy Pieters remains in a medically induced coma after suffering a serious head injury in a fall while training in Spain; there’s no way to tell if she’s suffered any lasting damage until she wakes up.

No surprise here, as the ever expanding world of Covid-19 is already forcing restrictions on the year’s first pro bike races in February.

Pez Cycling News reviews a new book about the legendary 7-Eleven cycling team from a former editor of VeloNews.

Former pro and current Worst Retirement Ever rider Phil Gaimon is teaming with a trio of off-road cyclists, a ‘cross and track rider, and a 12-year old kid to form the multidisciplinary Jukebox Cycling team, but doesn’t expect it to change anything but whose banner he rides under.

Last week’s devastating pre-New Year’s fires outside Boulder, Colorado destroyed entire neighborhoods in Louisville and Superior — including the home of Tom and Alie Hopper, who both work for the EF Pro Cycling professional cycling team. A crowdfunding page to help them rebuild has raised over $102,000, more than doubling the $50,000 goal.

Two-time Mexican national champion and former EF Pro Cycling rider Luis Villalobos was banned for four years for doping. But the era of doping is over, right?

 

Finally…

If you’re going to ride your bike with a sword in your backpack, try not to fall off and stab yourself with it. Your next bike seat could have had a wedge to fit up your butt crack; thankfully it didn’t catch on.

And it looks like someone had a very good Christmas.

https://twitter.com/SanDiegoApedal/status/1474710596318859267

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

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

Aluminum foil foils traffic light sensor fails, unconfirmed report of Newport Beach bike death, and new Downey bike lane

June 23, 2021 / / 2 comments

Phillip Young writes today with a brilliant DIY workaround for the problem of carbon wheels not being recognized by traffic signal sensors.

Would you please pass this traffic light safety tip along to your readers with carbon rim wheels?

Carbon rim bicycle wheels usually do not trigger traffic signal light sensor coils buried in the pavement and can be a safety issue. The non-conducting carbon rims do not change the magnet field around sensor coils, so the traffic light doesn’t change for you.

If the traffic signal light doesn’t trip in your travel direction and you have waited for 2 or 3 minutes, you may be inclined to run the red traffic signal light dodging traffic at your peril.

My carbon rim bicycle wheels would not trigger traffic light sensor coils buried in the pavement until aluminum foil tape was applied to the rim circumference with some foil tape overlap.

I added 3M adhesive backed aluminum foil tape cut about the width of rim tape where the normal cloth rim tape goes. The adhesive backed aluminum foil tape sticks well to the carbon rim material and weighs almost nothing. This should work on all carbon rims using inner tubes.

Push the aluminum foil tape down against the rim to get full contact and adhesion. Install the normal cloth rim tape on top of the aluminum foil tape. The foil tape also offers additional support to the rim tape over the rim spoke holes.

The rim with aluminum foil tape now reliably triggers traffic light sensor coils. The bicycle wheel rim with aluminum foil should be positioned parallel to and directly over the sensor coils buried in the pavement rewarding you with a green light.

May your travels be safe and green lights will always be with you,

Phil

PS: Aluminum rim bicycle wheels usually work triggering traffic signal lights if the wheel is positioned parallel to and directly over the pavement sensor coils.

For those looking for a more detailed explanation of why this works, Young followed up with this post from Cyclelicious.

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Nextdoor users have been reporting a possible bicycling fatality Monday morning on Dover Drive near PCH in Newport Beach.

So far, though, I’ve been unable to find any confirmation. So let’s hope that Nextdoor, which is not exactly known for its veracity, is wrong this time.

Thanks to David Huntsman and Lois for the heads-up.

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Downey has a new painted bike lane on Old River School Road.

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A crowdfunding campaign to help the victims of Saturday’s vehicular attack at a master’s bike race in Show Low, Arizona has raised nearly $60,000 of the $100,000 goal.

Which works out to just $10,000 for each of the critically injured victims.

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For anyone who needs a little something to entertain yourself on the rare moments you’re not riding your bike, how about coloring a few LA landmarks?

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This is who the anti-bike crowd are really opposing when they stand up against bike paths and protected bikeways.

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Nothing like heading out for a McDonald’s run with a tandem bike-powered car.

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

No bias here. After a California man was killed when he struck a chain blocking a Carson City, Nevada trail, the local sheriff warns against riders over-extending their confidence levels, instead of warning about dangerous chains strung across pathways that can kill unsuspecting people on bicycles.

Pennsylvania police are looking for the hit-and-run driver who sideswiped at least five bike riders with his passenger side mirror; the victims believe it was a deliberate attempt to buzz, if not injure, the riders.

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Local

Los Angeles received an $18 million grant for safety improvements to the Broadway corridor in South Los Angeles, rather than the $64 million the city asked for, on the condition that they limit the project to the safe street infrastructure component of the application for the deadly street, and guarantee completion; the street is one of LA’s most dangerous streets for bike riders and pedestrians.

LAist examines how Van Nuys’ Retro Xpress Bicycles navigated the pandemic as an essential business.

NoHo ‘bent dealer Bent Up Cycles is now the proud owner of Florida recumbent maker Bacchetta Bicycles.

 

State

San Diego drivers are complaining about a lack of parking in certain parts of town. Which is a pretty good argument to not drive if you don’t have to.

That’s more like it. A TV reporter tries out San Francisco’s Lyft bikeshare ebikes, and swears she’ll never drive again.

 

National

NBC News examines whether removing freeways built on a legacy of inequity can heal historic wounds.

VeloNews offers tips on how to avoid cyclist’s palsy, the painful numbness and tingling in your hands and arms from gripping the handlebars.

A new report shows that the jump in traffic deaths during the pandemic was more likely to affect Black people, who were killed at a rate 25% higher than white people.

Tragic news from Texas, where a man drowned in a North Texas lake when he rode his bike into the side of a bridge and fell over the guardrail.

The New Yorker takes a stab at humor by suggesting that riding a bicycle isn’t just like riding a bike, after all.

 

International

Yet another new study shows that ebike riders can complete a trip faster and with less effort than on a conventional bike, but still gain significant health benefits.

Vancouver has honored fallen mountain biker Jordie Lunn by naming a new bike park after him, two years after the famed stunt cyclist was killed trail riding with friends in Mexico.

An Ontario, Canada man begged a judge for mercy after he was convicted of the hit-and-run death of a bike-riding woman, insisting he just “panicked and made a mistake.” Never mind that the prosecutor is only asking for a “stiff sentence” of only two years behind bars. Then again, how much mercy did he show his victim, who was sentenced to death at his hands?

A British filmmaker stayed relatively close to home during the pandemic by filming a challenging 450-mile ride around Wales.

Over 85% of readers of the UK’s Courier newspaper think bike helmets should be made mandatory. Which only shows just how wrong 85% of readers can be.

Berlin is expanding the city’s bike network by making 15 miles of popup bike lanes installed during the pandemic permanent. Unlike a certain Southern California megalopolis we could name, which missed out on a once-in-a-generation opportunity by failing to install any to begin with.

 

Competitive Cycling

Defending Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar may be one of the few people who can claim to have pedaled a path from village unicyclist to winner of the world’s greatest bike race.

Cycling News considers the unique mystique of Mont Ventoux in Tour de France history; competitors in this year’s race will have to surmount the mountain twice in a single stage.

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome lowers his sights, insisting he’ll be happy just winning a stage in this year’s Tour.

Cycling Tips examines the eternal question of what team sponsors actually do on the men’s WorldTour.

Reuters looks at five women’s cyclists to watch at the Tokyo Olympics, including pink sock-wearing American speedster Chloe Dygert.

Cyclist considers the top rivalries in pro cycling, dating back to 1940s cycling legends Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali.

 

Finally…

Not every Olympic cyclist has her very own Chipotle bowl. That feeling when your epic bike ride from Moscow to California only takes a few hours.

And probably not the best idea to growl at the bear you just startled.

Just saying.

………

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

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

LA media belatedly reports death of 80-year old NB bike rider, fed rules favor cars over people, and ride for Woon this Sat.

April 6, 2021 / / Comments Off on LA media belatedly reports death of 80-year old NB bike rider, fed rules favor cars over people, and ride for Woon this Sat.

Maybe they should try reading BikinginLA first.

Or working weekends, anyway.

Last week, we reported on the tragic death of 80-year old Ernest Adams, who lost his life a day after he was run down by an allegedly intoxicated driver while riding his bike in Newport Beach.

No other media outlets reported his death at the time, other than a local Newport Beach blog.

That changed Monday, when a number of LA-area news outlets breathlessly reported that the Orange County Coroner had released the name of the 80-year old victim of the crash.

Except the coroner had posted Adam’s name online last Wednesday — the same day Tom Johnson’s Stu News Newport reported on his death, as well as the arrest of the 20-year old driver.

But maybe those other media outlets don’t have this site’s network of loyal readers to keep them on top of the latest news.

So we can do the same for you.

Thanks again to Bill Sellin and Lois for the heads-up, and giving us a nearly full week head start on nearly everyone else.

We’ll do our best to stay on top of the story, long after the rest have forgotten it.

And by we, I mean me.

And a year-old corgi who needs to start pulling her weight around here.

………

Nice to see NACTO gets it.

As their tweet suggests, current federal rules require 100 people per day to cross an intersection before a crossing signal can go in.

Except many people won’t cross dangerous intersections precisely because they don’t have signals.

Chicken, meet egg.

It’s long past time to rewrite the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, aka MUTCD, to eliminate such dangerously ridiculous requirements.

And the Federal Highway Administration needs to hear from us — all of us — that people matter more than cars.

………

Streetsblog’s weekly listing of livable streets-related events includes this notation about a walk/ride to honor Frederick “Woon” Frazier this Saturday; Woon’s alleged killer has yet to face justice for the hit-and-run that took his life.

Saturday 4/10 – On this date in 2018, 22-year-old Frederick “Woon” Frazier was killed in a horrific hit-and-run at Manchester and Normandie. Though the driver was ultimately apprehended, the case is still making its way through the court system. In the meanwhile, little has changed in the way of safety in that area; cars seem to be driving faster than ever along both busy corridors. To continue to push for both justice and safer streets, friends and family ask you to join them on a bike/walk for justice in honor of his memory. Meet up at 51st and Harvard at 11 a.m.

………

Sarcasm is a powerful tool.

Although there’s always a few tools who don’t get it.

Although this is just a truncated version of the Onion’s cartoon. So be sure to click through to get the full effect.

………

GCN wants you to take better care of your bike tools.

………

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

Nice guy. Portland, Oregon police busted a man who shot paintballs at a passing bike rider, then threatened park rangers with an ax.

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

Tallahassee police are looking for a would-be thief who rode his bike up to a bank patron using an ATM, then shot him in a botched robbery attempt; the victim was hospitalized in serious condition.

………

Local

LA County Sheriff’s deputies report two men were killed in separate collisions around on PCH near Busch Drive in Malibu, at 10:35 pm Sunday. However, it’s possible that one or both of the victims may have been riding bikes.

 

State

Huntington Beach considers allowing ebikes on the beachfront bike path.

Sad news from San Jose, where a man was killed when he was run down by a motorist while riding his bike across the street; police stress that he was “outside of a marked crosswalk” when he was killed. Never mind that bike riders are neither required nor expected to use a crosswalk — and often blamed when they do.

 

National

Grist credits investments in bicycling infrastructure during the pandemic for the surge in ridership.

Forbes says ebikes are the growing choice for summer transportation.

No surprise here, as my bike-friendly hometown is one of Colorado’s top ebike adaptors.

A second-generation Vietnamese-American woman explains how bicycles are a tool for upward mobility, while addressing the anti-Asian racism she experiences riding in Denver.

The Houston Chronicle says the new bike plan for the city’s East End is every bicyclist’s dream, adding a total of 50 miles of bike lanes connecting the community.

Howard Hughes was one of us as a kid, building his own motorized bicycle as a 12-year old growing up in Texas.

A Chicago broadcaster looks back at the history of bicycling in the city, and the city’s role in it.

An op-ed in the New York Daily News makes the case for legalizing jaywalking; a bill under consideration in California would do exactly that.

A report from the New York mayor’s office says the pandemic was a disaster for Vision Zero.

A Pennsylvania man got a well-deserved one to nine years behind bars for a hit-and-run crash while driving with a suspended license, which critically injured a toddler being pulled behind her mother’s bicycle; the judge wisely added a request not to release him after serving the minimum sentence.

 

International

Mountain bikers in Windsor, Ontario are engaged in an ongoing battle with the city, which rudely insists on removing the DIY jump tracks they keep rebuilding.

An Ontario, Canada lawyer says the province needs to go back to the drawing board and clarify the new regulations for ped-assist cargo bikes, which are needlessly vague and confusing.

Cycling Weekly looks back over a hundred years to legendary Black cyclist Major Taylor’s journey to London; Taylor repeatedly won despite the racism and discrimination he faced.

Jason Statham is one of us, going for a London tandem ebike ride with his actress-model fiancé. And yes, the bike has pedals, even if it looks more like an e-motorcycle.

A British photographer spent his pandemic lockdown taking some remarkably evocative self-portraits riding through the English countryside.

Inspired by legendary bike-riding women, a woman from the UK defies convention by continuing to ride through France during her pregnancy.

Smart bikeshare is booming in Nigeria’s Oyo State.

Singapore bike riders will be required to pass a theory test before they’re allowed to ride a ped-assist bicycle, under proposed amendments being considered in the parliament.

 

Competitive Cycling

Native Frenchman and former French road cycling champion Nacer Bouhanni hits back against racist online comments since he was DQ’d for bodychecking British cyclist Jake Stewart in last week’s Cholet-Pays de Loire. Seriously, he may ride like a jerk, but there’s no excuse for that crap. Ever.

 

Finally…

A bicycle for people with far more dollars than sense. Don’t blame motorists for driving on a bike trail, they’re just confused and misunderstood.

And I love this, which translates to “Long live freedom on wheels.”

Amen to that.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

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

80-year old man riding bike killed by alleged stop sign-running DUI driver in Newport Beach Sunday afternoon

March 31, 2021 / / One comment

Sometimes the needless death of an innocent person doesn’t merit even a few inches in the local paper.

Let alone a passing comment on the nightly news.

On Monday, I started hearing reports of someone killed in a collision while riding a bicycle in Costa Mesa, based on posts from the notoriously unreliable Nextdoor app.

By Tuesday morning, the location had shifted to nearby Newport Beach, along with comments suggesting the driver had been arrested. But still no confirmation from the coroner’s office or any of the local news outlets.

Sadly, that changed with this cryptic press release from the OC Coroner.

The coroner reported that 80-year old Ernest Adams died at a Santa Ana medical center early Monday morning, following a collision somewhere in Newport Beach Sunday afternoon.

That was followed by a post on a Newport Beach news blog placing the 3:16 pm collision at 16th Street and Irvine Avenue in Newport Beach.

According to the site, multiple witnesses reported seeing the suspect blow through a stop sign before slamming into Adam’s bike; a street view shows a residential street controlled by a four-way stop, with bike lanes in three directions, next to Newport Harbor High School.

Twenty-year old Norwalk resident Alexis Garcialopez was reportedly arrested for DUI causing serious injury after failing a roadside sobriety test.

Hopefully, that will be upgraded to vehicular homicide in the wake of Adams’ death. Because after 80 years on this earth, he definitely deserved a better ending.

This is at least the 17th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Orange County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Ernest Adams and all his family and loved ones.

Thanks to Bill Sellin and Lois for the heads-up.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

Newport Beach driver plows through demonstrators and hits bicyclist, and LAPD abandons bike after arresting rider

June 4, 2020 / / Comments Off on Newport Beach driver plows through demonstrators and hits bicyclist, and LAPD abandons bike after arresting rider

Apparently, bike riders aren’t even safe from drivers during a protest march.

A Newport Beach driver was apparently surprised to discover the city’s Balboa Boulevard filled with protesters demanding justice for George Floyd.

But instead of hitting the brakes, or simply turning around, like any reasonable person would, he plowed through the assembled crowd, parting people like Moses parting the seas, until finally hitting someone.

Make that someone on a bike.

Naturally.

There’s no word on whether the victim was injured.

Remarkably, though, a Newport Beach Police spokeswoman insisted it doesn’t seem to have been intentional.

Because evidently, it’s just so damn easy to plow through a couple hundred people without even slowing down by mistake.

And if that’s not enough, the cops let him keep — and use — his phone while they investigated.

Because it couldn’t possibly be evidence or anything.

………

Speaking of the protests, we have a lot to catch up on since, uh, yesterday.

An LAPD officer demonstrates that sometimes hit-and-run drivers are the ones tasked with stopping people who flee the scene after crashes.

Although his decision is a little easier to understand considering what happened just a day earlier.

Especially if any damage to the car comes out of his or her pay.

Meanwhile, nothing like responding to protists over police violence towards black people with still more police violence, this time directed towards people on bicycles.

New York officials credit pulling the plug on the city’s bikeshare and rental scooters after curfew with calming looting and violent demonstrations. On the other hand, it’s also blamed for stranding numerous peaceful demonstrators, leaving them at the mercy of violent cops (see above).

Police across the US are using their bicycles as weapons and defense shields.

And if you’re missing your bike after getting arrested on Tuesday, a kind neighbor could be holding it for you.

Even though the LAPD should be responsible for securing bicycles belonging to anyone who gets arrested, rather than just leaving them behind to be stolen or tossed out with the trash.

They’re someone’s property. And have real monetary value.

Or would they just leave someone’s car sitting unlocked with the key in the ignition?

………

Then there’s this, from off the northern Scottish coast.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

Brilliant idea.

Speaking of the Netherlands, the country’ queen doesn’t need a car to get around. Or police and tear gas to clear a path, for that matter.

………

The war on cars is a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.

There’s a special place in hell for the jerks who found humor in filming a bike-riding woman in the UK as they sprayed her with some sort of orange condiment. Then again, the same is true for anyone who sprays or throws anything at someone on a bike. Let alone films it for their twisted entertainment.

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

Police in Mobile, Alabama are looking for a gunman who shot a man and woman in an apparently random bike-by shooting.

………

Local

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Congratulations to OC bike advocate and tandem aficionado Mike Wilkinson on the official unveiling of the new Tandem Classifieds website.

 

National

A new Democratic transportation bill would require Complete Streets in urban areas, and ban states from setting higher goals for traffic deaths.

Self-driving cars could just make traffic worse, not better.

Outside offers a video guide on how to change your caliper brake pads.

Gear Patrol has advice on how to buy a used bike on the internet — including to be careful on sites like Craigslist, where too many of the bike for sale don’t belong to the people selling them. Then again, it’s not the best place to look for a dog, either.

Gear Junkie rates the year’s best mountain bike helmets, while a European study rated the continent’s best bike helmets, not all of which you can find over here.

Nogales AZ border crossers are turning to bicycles to avoid the long lines waiting to cross into Mexico, and vice versa.

The New York Times says the benefits of ebikes far outweigh the disadvantages, especially during a pandemic.

 

International

An environmental website says bicycling is having a historic moment, so let’s not waste the opportunity to make it safer and more inclusive.

He gets it. The head of the UK’s equivalent of AAA says the country needs to radically rethink its approach to the street to encourage more people to walk and bike, including charging drivers for every mile over the first 3,000 — or 4,000 for people in rural areas.

British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor is one of us. Although she might be regretting that right now after falling off her bike.

Scottish officials say speeding drivers are “deeply worrying” with more bike riders on the road, as the proportion of drivers exceeding the speed limit rises to one in three since the coronavirus lockdown began.

We already know Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is one of us, as he marks World Bicycle Day with a bizarre parade featuring 7,500 green-clad bicyclists.

India’s Bicycle Mayors use World Bicycle Day to promote bikes as a viable green alternative to public transport during the pandemic. Even if the celebration had to be virtual this year.

Cambodian officials confiscated the bikes of environmental advocates intending to highlight concerns over a protected island, and demanded they sign an unspecified agreement, forcing them to walk back.

Manilla nixes pop-up bike lanes, telling inexperienced riders to just stick to the side of the road.

 

Competitive Cycling

French track sprinter Grégory Baugé says racism exists everywhere, including the highest levels of pro cycling. Which should be evident, if only from the light hue of the pro peloton.

He gets it. Writing for Bicycling, former editor Joe Lindsey says it’s time to just let Lance go and move on, already.

Or as a wise man once put it,

 

Finally…

At last, a bike riding app designed to avoid other people. Bikes aren’t the new toilet paper, they’re the new hand sanitizer.

And if you get a ticket for riding your bike 55 mph in a 40 mph zone, just frame the damn thing, already.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

Update: Bike rider killed in Newport Beach crash; police won’t release details

March 15, 2020 / / 14 comments

A person was killed riding a bicycle in Newport Beach late Saturday night.

And for some reason, the Newport Beach Police Department refuses to release any details.

OnScene.TV is reporting that police received a call about a traffic collision at San Joaquin Hills Road and Newport Ridge Drive West at the entrance to the gated Newport Ridge community around 11:21 pm Saturday.

Raw video from the scene shows a very badly mangled bicycle, several hundred feet from what appears to be a man’s shoe. Assuming that it belonged to the victim, which is not clear from the video, it implies he or she was struck at an extremely high rate of speed.

The video also shows two vehicles inside the police tape, an older Honda Insight with visible damage and a Toyota SUV. That could suggest that the person on the bicycle was collateral damage in a crash between the two drivers, or that one of the drivers hit the victim while street racing.

A street view shows a gently curving four lane road on San Joaquin Road with a bike lane in each direction, and a 55 mph speed limit — a deadly configuration far too common in Orange County.

But again, we have too little information right now to know what really happened.

Hopefully we’ll learn more in the morning.

This is at least the 12th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fifth that I’m aware of in Orange County since the start of the year.

Update: Unfortunately, there’s still no official confirmation of the crash, or any information about the victim. 

However, the Orange County coroner posted this announcement, which lines up with the city and time of the crash. 

But again no guarantee she was the victim of this crash.

Update 2: A Newport Beach website has confirmed that Aubrye Foote was killed in the collision. Her Facebook page identifies her as a loving mother and the owner of a local business. 

However, unconfirmed reports suggest that Foote may have been driving a vehicle, and was killed when she got out of her car after a teenage boy was struck while riding his bike. 

I’m also told the unidentified victim on the bike was killed, as well. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Audrey Foote and the other victim, as well as their loved ones.

Thanks to Bill Sellin for his work on this story.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: DUI crash injures PCH bicyclists, drunken Mardi Gras bike wreck, and Beto’s dad was one of us

March 4, 2019 / / 2 comments

This is how I roll.

For now.

The good news is, the doctor said my knee replacement surgery went well, and I should get back to near 100%. Eventually.

The bad news is that the damage to my knee was so extensive that what is usually a two-hour operation took nearly four. And the recovery promises to be just as extensive and difficult as that implies.

And don’t get me started on the pain. Or constant sleepiness, nausea and confusion caused by the meds to control it.

Let alone the constant nickel and diming for medical services and devices that oddly aren’t covered as part of the surgery.  Even though I couldn’t have it without them.

But I’ll get there.

The only thing standing in the way is the willingness to do the work and fight through the pain to get to where I’m going.

And I think we bike riders know something about that.

But in the short-term, it’s seriously affecting my ability to think clearly and get any work done.

So instead of getting back to our usual Morning Links this morning, let’s go with a more limited edition to try and ease back in.

Call it Morning Links Lite.

………

My biggest fear when life forces me to take time some off is that we”ll miss an important story while I’m not able to share it with you.

Which is exactly what happened this time.

Last Wednesday, Allyson Vought forwarded news of a DUI crash on SoCal’s Killer Highway in Newport Beach that left two riders seriously injured.

Our friends Dr. Sherri Bates  & Allison Prendergast were hit by a DUI driver at 8am in Newport Beach today on PCH near Superior Blvd. Not sure of direction of their travel. We do know that the driver tried to run away but was stopped by witnesses and later arrested. 

Gil Bates, Sherri’s husband, just spoke with the plastic surgeon. Sherri needs facial surgery to repair sinus cavity, eye-socket and nose. Could be done tonight if the swelling subsides. Most incisions can be hidden but one will be at eyebrow line. Her knee is sore and swollen but not serious. 

Sheri is going for a neck MRI in a little bit.

Meanwhile, Allison has a broken femur at the hip socket and torn lip. Will possibly have surgery tonight. Really bad so early in the morning.

Unfortunately, there was no way I could write anything from my hospital bed that night, or do anything more than the bare minimum after I was released the next day.

That was followed on Friday by this email from Jay Doyle of the Velo Allegro cycling club.

On Wednesday, February 27th, Sherri Bates and Allison Prendergast went for an early morning bike ride from Long Beach and headed south on PCH. They were riding side-by-side in the bike lane and as they approached and passed Superior Avenue in Newport Beach they encountered slowed and stopped morning traffic. 

A northbound van turned left between the stopped southbound traffic to enter a strip mall parking lot on the west side of the street. Due to the stopped traffic the van driver, as well as Sherri and Allison, did not see one another. As the van crossed the bike lane, Sherri and Allison had no time to react and they both slammed into the right side of the vehicle. Both Sherri and Allison took the brunt of the impact head and face-first.

Sherri and Allison had to be taken by Paramedics to the closest trauma center at Orange County Global Medical in Santa Ana.

Sherri needed to undergo facial surgery to repair her sinus cavity, right eye-socket and nose. She also sustained neck and head trauma. 

Allison needed to undergo surgery to repair a broken femur at the hip socket and torn lip.

As serious as these injuries were, thank God they were not life threatening. Both Sherri and Allison had successful surgeries and will be going home on Friday for many weeks of recuperation.

Allison is self-employed as a massage therapist and will be out of work for an extended period of time. A Go Fund Me account is being set up to assist her with her medical and personal expenses. As soon as more information is obtained regarding the account we will let you know. Any financial donation that you might be able to make to help Allison would be greatly appreciated.

Regarding the driver of the van, NBPD was able to identify his whereabouts within the parking lot area. The male suspect exhibited signs of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol and was arrested.

Accidents like this are tragic, especially when it occurs to fellow Velo Allegro family members that we know and love. Please, be careful out there! Unfortunately, our fate is in the hands of strangers driving past us on the road. We can only hope that they are sober, paying attention to the road, and giving us at least 3-feet of passing clearance. This is sad news but it could have been much worse. We wish Sherri and Allison a quick road to recovery and we hope to see them back on the bike soon. Get well soon! We love you guys!!

Unfortunately, I can’t find a crowdfunding page for either of the victims, but I’ll be happy to share any links once they come online.

And let this be yet another painful reminder that there’s no time of day when you’re completely safe from drunk and stoned drivers.

………

This is what happens when attempts to encourage people to walk and bike to Mardi Gras celebrations meet an entrenched car culture in a community dedicated to laissez les bons temps rouler.

AKA, letting the good times roll.

A celebratory night in New Orleans was ruined when the adult son of a New Orleans cop slammed down a few drinks too many before getting behind the wheel of his car, and plowing into a group of people on famed Esplanade Ave.

The multi-block rampage, which took place just blocks from the popular Endymion Mardi Gras parade, left two people dead and three critically injured, along with another four less seriously injured.

Most, if not all of those, were believed to have been riding bikes at the time of the crash.

The driver, Tashonty Toney, tried to flee the scene on foot, but was stopped nearby by bystanders, who described him as “blind drunk.”

A witness said the 32-year old Toney had swerved his sports car into the bike lane on Esplanade to go around slower traffic, then stumbled out of his car after coming to a stop, and passed out on a street corner.

He later told police he had a drinking problem and should have gotten help.

No shit.

This came just two years after another driver plowed into crowds at the same Endymion parade.

Toney is being held on $510,000 bond.

………

Stephen Katz forwards a reminder that unannounced Democratic presidential contender Beto O’Rourke’s father was one of us.

And it didn’t end well.

Prominent Texas Judge and cross-country cyclist Pat O’Rourke was killed while during a solitary recumbent ride on July 3rd, 2001, before having an El Paso bike trail named after him 16 years later.

Clearly, it hasn’t scared his son off.

………

Who said women can’t compete with the men?

A Belgian women’s cycling competition had to be halted by race officials after the lead racer caught up with the back of the men’s race, despite giving the men a ten minute head start.

Unfortunately, she ended up finishing 74th when the peloton caught her after being forced to cool her pedals for so long.

………

Speaking of Belgium, the country’s E3 Harrelbeke race once again rushes into sexist territory where wiser minds would fear to tred, following a number of regretful marketing misfires in recent years.

The poster for this year’s race features what at first glance appears to be a frog — but on closer examination turns out to be two naked, intertwined women painted green.

What that has to do with bike racing, we’ll probably never know.

Or, chances are, want too.

………

And finally…

Who says bicyclists aren’t tough? Like riding 30 minutes to get help after a rattlesnake bite.

At 75 years old.

………

Thanks to Bryan Z and Matthew R for their generous and unexpected donations support this site and help pay for my new knee.

I couldn’t have been more surprised by their kindness. Or grateful.

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

Update: Hit-and-run driver kills bike rider in Newport Beach, injures another

July 15, 2017 / / 8 comments

This time the killer didn’t have a chance to sober up first.

The Orange County Register is reporting that a bike rider was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Newport Beach last night.

The driver, identified as 23-year-old Taylor Evans, fled the scene after striking two people riding their bikes on northbound Newport Boulevard near Industrial Way at 1:19 am.

One of the two victims apparently died at the scene. The other suffered undisclosed injuries.

Neither has been publicly identified at this time.

No word on how the collision occurred.

Evans was arrested a few blocks away at Newport Boulevard near E. 16th Street as he tried to push his damaged SUV out of the roadway. He was booked on suspicion of felony DUI with bodily injury, hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter.

A street view shows a six lane, high speed arterial roadway with a painted shoulder on the northbound side below Industrial Way, and a wide parking lane above it.

This is the 31st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fifth in Orange County. This is also at least the 13th bicycling death in Newport Beach since 2010, an average of nearly two a year.

Update: The City News Service has identified the victim as 41-year old Costa Mesa resident Jose Vasquez-Perez. The story also places the location as Costa Mesa, though the crash is being investigated by the Newport Beach Police Department.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jose Vasquez-Perez and his loved ones. 

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,
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