Just 169 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
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I’m still looking for anyone interested in filling in here after my shoulder surgery next month, whether you’re willing to take over for a day or two a week, or simply submitting a guest post or two.
Just email me at the address on the About page, above.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.
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A hit-and-run driver left a 60-year old woman with life-threatening injuries in in San Diego’s Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood Sunday morning.
The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was riding her mountain bike eastbound in the 13100 block of Rancho Peñasquitos Blvd around 8:40 am, when a driver traveling in the same direction swerved into her.
Police are looking for a mid-sized, silver or charcoal gray SUV of an undetermined make. There’s no description of the driver, who was reportedly driving erratically prior to the crash.
The victim suffered injuries including bleeding in the brain, as well as a broken neck.
Anyone with information is urged to call the traffic division of the San Diego Police Department 858/495-7823; or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 888/580-8477.
Hopefully, the victim will recover from her injuries, and they’ll find — and prosecute — the heartless coward who did it to her.
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A 26-year old Riverside man faces sentencing in September after pleading guilty to killing an Oceanside woman.
According to the San Diego County DA’s office, Christian Joshua Howard pled guilty on Thursday to a single felony count of hit-and-run causing death, along with a misdemeanor count of destroying or concealing evidence for the March 17th collision that killed 51-year old Oceanside postal carrier Tracey Gross.
Howard reportedly dragged Gross’ bike two miles underneath his car as he fled the scene, running her down as she rode her bike home after going into work at the post office on Sunday night.
Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign for Gross’ family stands just $55 short of the $20,000 goal.
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It’s now 207 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A Chicago letter writer pushes back on a bicyclist’s assertion that people drive aggressively and angrily and are actively hostile to people on bicycles, arguing that from a driver’s and pedestrian’s perspective, bike riders are no different.
Yet another Conservative British city councilmember called for license plates for bicycles to put them on a level playing field with trucks, vans and cars, as if bicyclists somehow pose the same risk to others as motor vehicles; meanwhile, another Conservative councilmember complains that no one will ride a hilly bike route — yet at the same time, warns of anti-social behavior by bike riders on their way down.
A Singapore car columnist argues for bicyclists to have to pay the same road taxes as motorists, insisting that “bicycles are not ‘bigger’ than cars, but some cyclists ride like big idiots.”
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Authorities in Montreal have installed new speed bumps — not for drivers, but to slow down people on bicycles.
Police were called when teenagers were observed riding bikes and smoking week in the aisles of a UK supermarket, searching them and obtaining “their details.”
Police in Dubai confiscated nearly 650 bicycles and e-escooters from lawbreaking bicyclists. Which sounds like a lot, until you consider it’s a country of 3.5 million people.
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Local
Writing for a Santa Clarita paper, a retired LAPD motorcycle cop somehow feels the need to remind bike riders that the law applies to them, too. Funny how no one ever seems to feel the need to remind drivers about that, even though they break the law just as often, with far deadlier consequences.
Long Beach leads the way when it comes to SoCal traffic circles.
State
Simi Valley will get a new bike plan, after the city awarded a nearly quarter-million-dollar contract to develop a new plan, including an outreach program featuring at least three community workshops, 10 local events, and web and social media engagement. Although as we’ve learned the hard way here in Los Angeles, even the best plan is only as good as the commitment of city leaders to actually build the damn thing.
National
A travel website recommends ten beautiful rail trails across the US that they say you need to ride at least once. None of which are in Los Angeles. Or California, for that matter.
The author of Seattle Bike Blog rode his ebike 30 miles to Everett, Washington to play night hockey, then rode another 30 miles back home.
A Utah man explains what he’s learned from riding the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail nearly 4,000 miles across the US to raise funds for college scholarships in the state.
A 22-year old Florida woman was killed by a Sarasota County sheriff’s deputy as she was just walking her bicycle across the street, raising the question of why the hell the cop couldn’t manage to avoid her.
International
Momentum offers ten ways bicycles “deliver the freedom that cars can only promise.”
A petition urging Toronto food delivery riders to obey the law has drawn less than 300 signatures in two weeks, despite being featured in the city’s main newspaper.
Lila Moss is one of us, as the model daughter of former supermodel Kate Moss went for a bikeshare ebike ride through London.
The head of English foldie-maker Brompton warns that contraction in the bike industry isn’t over, predicting that more bicycle businesses will go belly up this winter.
Velo says famed British designer Paul Smilth has the biggest, best and most extensive collection of bicycle memorabilia you’ll ever see.
Bicyclists in the UK are less satisfied with bike lane design and maintenance, feel less safe, and face more barriers to riding than bicyclists in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.
A 26-year old British woman will spend a well-deserved eight years and eight months behind bars for the drunken and stoned hit-and-run that killed a 40-year old bike rider
The best bike routes for your next trip to Andalucía, Spain.
Kim Kardashian is one of us, going for a nearly naked, lightless bikini-clad ride after a nighttime swim in Puglia, Italy.
A writer for The Guardian describes how he found his bliss bicycling along the coast of Estonia. Raise your hand if you didn’t even know Estonia had a coast.
An Aussie bicycle advocacy group looks to tax receipts from San Francisco’s Valencia Street to argue that bike lanes don’t have a negative effect on local businesses.
Competitive Cycling
Two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar won his second consecutive stage on Sunday over fellow two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard; Pogačar enters today’s rest day with a three minute, nine second lead over his chief rival.
The New York Times says forget the rest of the peloton, the Tour de France is down to a two-man race between Pogačar and Vingegaard, between them winners of the past four Tours.
Slovenia’s Primož Roglič is out of the Tour de France after crashing hard and losing time in stage 12.
Covid is taking a toll in the race, with several riders dropping out, while Geraint Thomas is continuing to race despite the illness, and members of the press face a mask mandate.
The pro cyclists union plans to take legal action against a “fan” who assaulted the race leaders — with potato chips.
An Egyptian cyclist was kicked off the country’s Olympic team following uproar over her selection, despite knocking a competitor off her bike in a sprint.
Finally…
Why just ride a bike when you can pedal a canoe across Scotland? Who needs tires when your bike can wear slippers?
And you can see a lot of things riding a bike — like a Patagonian rodent as big as a medium-sized dog, thousands of miles from its normal South American range.
https://www.tiktok.com/@accuweather/video/7388563615881661727?embed_source=121374463%2C121442748%2C121439635%2C121433650%2C121404359%2C121351166%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_blank&refer=embed&referer_url=www.msn.com%2Fen-us%2Flifestyle%2Fpets%2Fcolorado-resident-out-on-a-bike-ride-stumbles-across-a-rodent-native-to-south-america%2Far-BB1pXIhm&referer_video_id=7388563615881661727
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
