Day 175 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
………
This is who we share the road with.
A kindhearted North Carolina driver stopped to politely give a little safety advice to a woman riding a bicycle, who politely thanked him for his thoughtfulness.
Or maybe not.
In an incident caught on video — see below — the road raging driver backed up his pickup to scream at the victim, right after subjecting her to a horn-blaring punishment pass, even though she had moved far to the right after her rear-facing radar notified her of an approaching driver.
Here’s how a local TV station described the incident.
“I’m just letting you know one person has already got killed on this f****** road riding a bike,” yelled the man in the video. “You’re in a f****** curb. When these trucks come around and hit you and kill you, you’re gonna be f****** dead.”
I could be wrong, but I don’t think that missing seven-letter word was “factual”
But wait, there’s more.
In the video, Faith can be heard explaining she had a radar, but Currin drives off. She then yelled at him as he drove away, “Drive better, m**********!” After that, he stopped his truck and drove it in reverse to face her again.
“You need to watch your f****** mouth,” Currin yelled. “Let me give you some good advice, b****, don’t cuss me the f*** out. I’m telling you you’re going to get hit.”
“You’re cursing me out!” Faith yelled back before the video ends.
So let me get this straight.
The driver was so concerned about the woman’s safety that he first threatened it with his truck, then backed up to swear at her. And somehow got mad when she responded in kind.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Drivers like that, she added, are probably why she doesn’t see more women riding solo when she’s out.
And that makes sense, too.
Even if none of the rest did.
@faith_irv_rides Imagine you are just riding your bike solo and this gem “offers help”. I have ridden this road more times than I can count. I follow all the laws and when my radar tells me someone is coming I move even closer to the white line. (I know I don’t have to.) This “helpful” guy flies by me within inches blaring his horn. I stopped when I saw him slowing down to avoid him. I didn’t get to record the first part when he yelled I shouldn’t be on the road before the first reverse. I guess my bike could have been confused as a grass bike and not a road bike. I am thankful a random driver stopped and waited until the red faced “man” drove off. This was towards the end of my 4 hour ride and I had been thinking all of the drivers were so nice today. Bro said “hold my beer”. I don’t think my heart rate went back down to zone 2 after that either. Just the other day I wondered why I didn’t see more ladies riding solo when I’m out and now we have a good reason. Angry people like this that could have just kept driving. Anyone know this guy or his license plate? It happened on Oakridge Duncan Rd, Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526. #cycling #cyclist #roadcyclist #roadcycling #roadbike #badddrivers #cyclinglife #cyclingwomen #bike
………
This is who we share the road with, part two.
A 40-year old Anchorage, Alaska woman faces charges of manslaughter, DUI and bribery for the speeding, drunken crash that killed a 48-year old man riding a bicycle.
Yes, bribery.
To make matters worse, the victim, who recently became an American citizen, was using his headphones to talk with his mother in Baja California when he was struck and killed. Which will probably haunt her for the rest of her life.
Traffic cameras showed the woman driving over a median, turning left against the light, and driving on the wrong side of the road before drifting off the road and striking the victim while exceeding the posted 50 mph speed limit.
She was still in the driver’s seat, reeking of booze, when police arrived.
Then there’s this.
“Following arrest and during transport to the Anchorage jail, (Dill) told the arresting officer that she would give him $1000 if he dropped her off down the street and ‘acted like nothing happened,’” the summary report said.
The officer asked her to repeat herself, it said, and she “assured him that she had $1,000 cash on her and would give it to him.”
Maybe not the best move.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A columnist for USA Today adds to the anti-ebike and e-scooter hysteria, calling them the hazard tourists never saw coming and insisting it’s time to put an end to the madness — while acknowledging that ebike riders only rarely injure tourists, and that it’s not always the rider’s fault.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
An 83-year old woman says her life was ruined when she was struck by a hit-and-run ebike rider who blew a red light on a London street, leading her celebrity chef son-in-law to call for a crackdown on ebikes.
An “idiot” riding in a UK sportive nearly learned the hard way why you don’t pass multiple riders on a blind curve.
………
Local
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers photos from Sunday evening’s Mission at Twilight open streets event through Alhambra, San Gabriel and South Pasadena. Which was the only one held Sunday, after CicLAvia was cancelled due to the ICE raids and protests in the LA area.
State
Calbike argues that the deadly 85th Percentile Rule, which allows drivers to set speed limits with a heavy right foot, belongs on the dustin of history, while calling for support of AB 1014 to extend the ability of cities to lower speed limits by 5 mph to state roadways. Which isn’t exactly getting rid of it, but it helps.
Sad news from Newark, where a man was killed while allegedly riding his bike on the wrong side of a highway.
Officials in Tiburon sent a 143-word letter to Caltrans expressing their concerns over a planned bike lane on the city’s eponymous boulevard, with the mayor and a councilmember dissenting; the former because it didn’t address all of her concerns, and the latter because he just wants the whole damn thing stopped. Or part of it, anyway. Maybe it could have addressed all the mayor’s concerns if they’d just made it 145 words. Or even 150.
National
People For Bikes celebrates historic, picturesque and newly bikeable Galena, Illinois — population 3,327 — which jumped 30 points in their City Ratings in just five years by adding new trails and bike lanes.
Kindhearted Wisconsin cops bought a new BMX bike for a young man with a disability, after the bike he relied on as his only form of transportation was stolen from a Walgreens.
No bias here, either. A candidate for Boston mayor criticizes the current mayor’s “failed and dangerous bike lanes, speed bumps and removal of parking spaces across the city,” agreeing that he might rip out a new curbside bike lane — even though it went in to improve safety, along with new crosswalks, signals and turn lanes, after a woman was killed just crossing the street to get a cup of coffee.
Mariska Hargitay is one of us, riding her bike on the New York set of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit with her joyfully screaming three-year old son following on a tag-a-long trailer. Or at least she was, since the three-year old boy shown in the photo would be 18 now. No word on whether he’s still screaming, joyfully or otherwise.
The late New Yorker John F. Kennedy Jr. was one of us in real life, and will be again on a new TV series. No, not the dead president. Or the current vaccine-skeptic Health and Human Services secretary.
Good for them. A group of Wisconsin high school students rode their bikes 1,000 miles to Alabama to explore firsthand the country’s racial relations and civil rights past.
International
No news is good news, right? Seriously, I’ve got nothing.
Competitive Cycling
The new men’s pro cycling team headed by US cycling legends — and former dopers — George Hincapie and Bobby Julich will “launch a renaissance of American cycling”, with a goal of competing in the Tour de France in just five years.
Finally…
We may have to cope with LA’s wild drivers, but wild cougars on the trail, not so much. Apparently, a “like new” bike on social media means kinda fucked up in real life.
And apparently, the new Van Moof lets you fly like Superman. But preferably not in the Superman pose.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
