Tag Archive for PCH

Update: One man killed, two others severely injured by alleged drugged, hit-and-run driver on PCH in Huntington Beach

This is not how any of us wanted to start the week.

Because once again, a motor vehicle has become a weapon of mass destruction in the wrong hands, killing one man and severely injuring two others.

And once again, on PCH in Huntington Beach.

According to multiple sources, the victims were run down, apparently from behind, while riding in the bike lane on southbound PCH just north of Newland Street around 6:45 this morning.

That would put it in the vicinity of Lifeguard Station 13.

Police arrived to find the victims strewn in the traffic lane, their shattered bicycles on the side of the road.

One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene; he has not been publicly identified at this time.

However, KTLA-5 reported on air that the victims were members of a Long Beach bike club.

The driver fled the scene, but was arrested after stopping on the side of the road about half-a-mile away. Given the damage to the victims and their bikes, it’s likely her 2006 Mercedes E-Class wasn’t in drivable condition.

Police identified her as 43-year old Long Beach resident Amber Calderon, who was booked on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, gross vehicular manslaughter, felony DUI and possession of narcotics.

If she has a previous DUI on her record, those charges would likely be upgraded to murder.

Police are still investigating the cause of the crash. However, under California law, DUI can be considered a contributing factor, but not the proximate cause of any collision.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team of the Huntington Beach Police Department at 714/536-5670.

This is at least the 48th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Orange County.

Drivers have fled the scene in 16 of those SoCal crashes, or one out of every three fatal crashes involving someone on a bicycle since the first of the year.

Then there’s this.

This is insane – and it happens weekly here in Southern California. One of my coworkers was run down while cycling less than 6 months into his well earned retirement. @bikinginla.bsky.social #BikeSky

Michael (@mjfromla.bsky.social) 2025-10-20T18:19:23.078Z

Update: The victim who died at the scene has been identified as 45-year old Garden Grove resident Eric John Williams.

There’s still no word on the identities or condition of the other victims.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Eric John Williams and the other victims and their loved ones. And best wishes for a full and fast recovery for the survivors. 

Thanks to Michael, Zachary, James Johnson, Jeffrey and Mike for the heads-up. 

The most dangerous intersections in deadly LA, injured Yaroslovsky staffer ID’d, and remembering Pepperdine PCH victims

Day 290 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Thanks to Crosstown for analyzing Los Angeles Police Department data to determine the 20 most dangerous intersections in LA.

Particularly now that city officials longer seem to think we need to know such things.

Maybe because it points to what a colossal, stinking mound of crap they’ve given us when it comes to improving traffic safety here in the City of Angels.

Take Vision Zero, for instance.

Please.

In 2015, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti used an executive order to launch “Vision Zero,” an initiative designed to dramatically reduce traffic deaths through a wide-ranging set of proposed improvements to road design, education and more. Despite the aim of eliminating traffic deaths by 2025, road safety took a turn for the worse. This spring, the city released a lengthy audit of what went wrong.

Among the causes: Only half of the listed “actions” were ever completed. The plan lacked a program for accountability among city departments. There was poor coordination and diminishing participation from the LAPD’s traffic division.

In fact, traffic deaths have exceeded murders for the past three years. And already exceed the totals from 2015, with two full months to go.

The same with serious injury crashes, which have topped 1,500 for three years running, and likely will again.

The worst of the worst, though, is the notorious intersection of South Figueroa and Slauson.

Where South Figueroa crosses Slauson Avenue, bad things happen. Over the past four years, the intersection has been the scene of 17 felony hit-and-run collisions and five severe injuries. The crosswalks aren’t safe, either: seven pedestrians have been struck there.

All told, there were 66 serious collisions at the intersection, which is in the Vermont Slauson neighborhood in South Los Angeles, making it the most dangerous in the entire city during that period.

Then again, the rest of the South Figueroa corridor isn’t much better, with the intersections at Manchester, Florence and Gage also making the list.

Sepulveda makes the list three times, as does Western. Roscoe appears twice in just the top four, where it crosses Sepulveda and at Van Nuys.

Surprisingly, Sunset is only on there twice, where it crosses Highland, and a few blocks east at La Brea.

And Hollywood and Highland checks in a number 11. Which means it evidently wasn’t fixed in 2015 when all-way crossing was installed, after all.

So much for assurances from city officials.

Pedestrian deaths have exceeded the pre-Vision Zero totals for every single year after 2015, as have serious injuries and total traffic deaths.

Unfortunately, the stats don’t break out bicycling deaths, so we still don’t know how many bike riders have actually been killed on the mean streets of Los Angeles in recent years.

Other than too damn many.

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

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More on the hit-and-run crash that severely injured a staffer for CD5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, and killed her beloved corgi.

The Beverly Press and Park LaBrea News identifies her as Thao Tran.

Never mind that I’ve known, and carefully avoided naming her, for two weeks now.

Tran, who serves as Yaroslavsky’s business development deputy, was taken to a hospital with multiple fractures. Kobe, who was frequently by Tran’s side at community events, died as a result of being struck by the pickup. Tran posted about the incident on Instagram on Oct. 13.

“It was one week ago on Sunday morning that a hit-and-run driver struck me and killed Kobe while starting our morning walk. I sustained three broken ribs, three fractured vertebrae, a fractured fibula and two fractures in my cheekbones that required surgery. Kobe … died at the ER vet,” Tran said. “I’m recovering at home now, mourning the loss of Kobe and trying to make sense of it all. I’ve received countless gifts of flowers, food and care packages and I’m sincerely grateful for belonging to such a generous and caring community. My injuries will eventually heal but the loss of Kobe is a heartache I’ve not felt since the loss of my parents.”

According to the paper, the driver, identified only as a Los Angeles woman in her 30s, allegedly ran the stop sign at Eighth Street and Cloverdale Ave around 8:30 am on Sunday, Oct. 5th.

She stopped briefly after striking them, then left the scene without getting out of her pickup, leaving Tran and her dog lying injured and bleeding in the street. She was released on her own recognizance after turning herself in later that day, pending charges of felony hit-and-run causing injury.

Police don’t believe she was under the influence at the time of the crash, although the delay in turning herself in means she could have had time to sober up, if she was.

If this whole damn thing has left you anywhere near as angry and heartbroken as I am, Tran asks for donations in Kobe’s memory to Queen’s Best Stumpy Dog Rescue, the corgi rescue she volunteers with.

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It’s hard to believe its just been two years since four Pepperdine students were brutally killed by a speeding driver, collateral damage after he crashed into a row of parked cars, which crashed into them as they waited to cross LA killer highway.

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, will host a press conference and remembrance today near the site of the crash, at the heartbreaking white PCH Ghost Tire Memorial.

Here is the group’s press release for the event, in case you want to attend all or part of it.

Honoring the Four Pepperdine Students
Killed on Pacific Coast Highway on the 2nd Anniversary of their Passing

October 17, 2025, Malibu, California –  On October 17, 2023, four Pepperdine University seniors — Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir, and Deslyn Williams — were struck and killed by a speeding driver on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu while walking along PCH after parking their car. All four were members of the Alpha Phi sorority and beloved members of the Pepperdine community.

Their tragic deaths sparked a wave of grief and outrage throughout Malibu and beyond, renewing calls for safety improvements along PCH — one of California’s most dangerous roadways. The tragedy galvanized city, state, and community leaders to honor the memory of these four young women whose futures were cut short by taking action to prevent future loss of life.

October 17, 2025 is the 2nd anniversary of this tragedy. While the focus of the press event is to remember four young lives tragically cut short–and the work of making progress improvements will never fully measure up to the families’ grief of lives lost–the important work of paying tribute by improving public safety continues. The urgency of improving safety is never more acute than on October 17 when we pause to remember their lives.

When:
  • Friday, October 17, 2025
  • Press Conference: 2:30 – 3:00 PM
  • Remembrance Event: 4:00 – 5:00 PM
Where:
  • PCH Ghost Tire Memorial
  • Pacific Coast Highway and Webb Way
  • Roughly 23661 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90265
PRESS CONFERENCE (2:30 – 3:00 PM)

Officials and advocates will honor the memory of the four Pepperdine students whose lives were tragically lost in 2023 and report on efforts to make the Pacific Coast Highway safer.

Confirmed Speakers:
  • Bridget Thompson, Roommate and close friends with Niamh, Peyton, Asha, and Deslyn (Opening remarks and emcee)
  • Senator Ben Allen, California State Senate
  • Lee Habor, Caltrans Representative
  • Rep for Supervisor Lindsey Horvath
  • Captain Jared I. Perry, CHP West Valley Area
  • Captain Dustin Carr, Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department
  • Councilmember Doug Stewart, City of Malibu
  • Michel Shane, Emily Shane Foundation & Fix PCH
  • David Rolston, Father of Niamh Rolston
REMEMBRANCE EVENT (4:00 – 5:00 PM)

Who: Open to the public — friends, families, students from Pepperdine University, and community members are all invited to attend.

Program:
  • Moment of Silence
  • Release of Four White Doves
  • Music by Skyla Woodward (vocals) and Alima Ovali (guitar), Pepperdine University students
  • Words of Remembrance: An open mic will be available for anyone wishing to share memories or reflections, guided by an emcee.
Memorial Benches Fundraiser

As part of the day’s events, Streets Are For Everyone, Fix PCH, and the Emily Shane Foundation are launching a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the installation of memorial benches at Point Dume in honor of the four girls.

This project began as Vinita Weir’s wish, in memory of her daughter, and has since been expanded — at the request of all family members — to honor all four Pepperdine students.

Donate or share the campaign here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/PCH-Pepperdine-Student-Memorial

For more information about Malibu’s fight for a safer PCH, including press releases, documents and statistics, visit: www.MalibuCity.org/PCHsafety.

I am so damn sick of traffic violence.

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Streets For All is asking for people to turn out at 9 am Saturday to support their agenda for charter reforms in the City of Los Angeles, when they’ll be presenting to the Charter Reform Commission.

The meeting will take place at the Pacoima City Hall at 13520 Van Nuys Blvd.

Among their primary priorities are,

1. Make LADOT a chartered department that has responsibility to construct and maintain streets property line to property line, moving the Bureau of Street Services under LADOT.

Since being formed in 1979 under City administrative code, LADOT is responsible for planning nearly all of LA’s transportation projects without the ability to construct streets or sidewalks – a responsibility currently given to Public Works in the City Charter. Giving LADOT this authority would align LA with most large cities in the nation, where the department that manages streets safety and traffic flow also has the ability to effectively build and maintain streets and sidewalks.

2. Shore up street funding with a regular percent of city assessed property values.

LADOT and BSS have lost a significant number of staff in recent budgets and do not have the capacity to effectively deliver services in a timely manner. Currently in the City Charter, Parks and Rec and the Library departments are unique in receiving a dedicated percent of all taxable property values which ensures reliable funding for some of LA’s most vital public services. We believe streets, the City’s largest public space, should also be granted this privilege.

3. Change the City budget to a 2 year cycle and formalize a 5 year Capital Improvement Plan.

The benefits of both of these suggestions have been well researched and proposed by other groups, for the simple reason that not all infrastructure projects are going to fit neatly in a single city fiscal year. Long term planning can reduce costs and improve efficiency in delivering projects. While not every City formalizes a CIP in the City Charter, other large peer cities such as NYC, Houston, and San Jose do. A 2-year city budget and 5-year CIP process would allow departments to improve management of projects, staff capacity, and delivery timelines.

4. Replace the board of public works with a director position similar to other City departments.

The Board of Public Works is over 100 years old and has a unique management structure compared to other departments inside the City of LA by reporting to both a board and a director. It is also unique as a vehicle for structuring Public Works. The department should be run by a single director with a clear line of authority between the Mayor’s office, the department, and the Bureaus inside.

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Gravel Bike California goes riding in Big Bear.

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Nothing like a peaceful ride home, when suddenly a pub reaches out and grabs you by the collar.

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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 stalled car caused a backup in morning rush hour traffic on a San Diego street, a local website naturally blamed bike lanes. But the very first comment linked to Momentum’s “comeback guide to all the anti-cycling arguments you’ll hear this year.”

City leaders in Leeds, England are calling for banning bicycles and ebikes from one of the busiest main streets in West Yorkshire, even though bikes represent just three percent of the 250,000 people who use the street every week. And once again, bicycles of every kind — both regular bikes and ped-assist ebikes — are lumped together with electric motorbikes, as one woman calls ebikes “a fatality waiting to happen.”

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Local 

The California Transportation Commission, which is different from Caltrans, has awarded a $6.4 million grant to extend the Ballona Creek bike path from its current northern terminus into Mid-City Los Angeles.

The Beverly Press introduces the new Hollywood Blvd bike lane sweeper unveiled by CD13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, in partnership with Streets Are For Everyone.

Pasadena’s city council unanimously approved a $1.09 million contract to design greenways on four north–south corridors, despite a “divided” public debate.

Malibu will host a virtual community meeting with Caltrans from 6 pm to 7 pm this Wednesday to discuss the Quick-Build Roundabouts Project on PCH at El Matador State Beach and Encinal Canyon Road.

Calbike says LA County’s South Bay offers a case study in how car dependency dictates design.

 

State

More Orange County cities are considering cracking down on reckless ebike riding. But as usual, they don’t seem to distinguish between ped-assist ebikes and electric motorbikes. 

Westminster police busted a man with seven open felony warrants after a brief pursuit on his bicycle, and discovered he was carrying 200 grams of meth, 15 grams of fentanyl and “other items indicative of drug sales,” as well as being a convicted felon in possession of a gun. Although they don’t explain what justification they used to initiate a stop, let alone a police chase.

Rancho Cucamonga celebrated the opening of the Day Creek Channel Bike Trail with a seven-mile bike ride, after the path was extended by a mile-and-a-half.

A 44-year old man suffered severe injuries in a left-cross collision in Ventura when police say a driver turned in front of his ebike, impeding his right-of-way.

Now that’s how you do it. Police in Menifee conducted a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation, ticketing 23 people for not stopping for a cop in a crosswalk dressed in an inflatable dinosaur costume.

Palo Alto is planning to install separated bike lanes on three major thoroughfares on the south part of the city.

A pair of San Raphael men were termed “prolific bike thieves” after they were busted for stealing a number high-end ebikes, with police saying they had been arrested many times before for bike theft and drug possession.

San Mateo is working to revive a proposed 22-mile Grand Boulevard Initiative on El Camino Real, but will need Caltrans approval to replace parking with protected bike lanes. Which should be a given, considering the agency’s Complete Streets policy, but isn’t.

 

National

Now you, too, can have an ebike with a sidecar. Or as I call it, a corgi seat.

Cycling Savvy maps out how to successfully tame a multi-lane challenge.

Scientific American reminds us that a human on a bicycle is nature’s most efficient form of transportation, aside from a human in a velomobile. Although neither bicycles nor velomobiles were actually created by nature, but still. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up. 

No surprise here, as nearly 70 Bend, Oregon residents are reportedly “thrilled” after receiving $1,800 ebike rebates from the city. Which compares favorably to LA’s $0 rebates. 

A Las Vegas website says the deaths of two kids from traffic violence near city schools may be tragic and disturbing, but it’s “also predictable because of so many reckless Vegas drivers.” Kinda like drivers in every other American city. 

Philadelphia makes a change that will allow more bike lanes in the city, as long as you don’t mind sharing them with trucks being loaded and unloaded.

A new lawsuit alleges an NYPD officer intentionally swerved into a man as he was riding a mo-ped against traffic in a bike lane; the cop reported he swerved to avoid the victim, but surveillance video exactly the opposite.

The fiancée of a fallen North Carolina bicyclist tries to turn tragedy into life saving by urging the city council to use his death, as well as two other bicyclists who were also killed by a dump truck driver, as a catalyst to improve safety on local roads.

A Florida sheriff’s deputy crashed into a girl riding a bicycle while making a turn, but they don’t bother to explain how it happened, how old the girl is or if anyone was injured. Like the kid riding the bicycle, for instance.

 

International

Mountain biking website Off.Road.cc offers tips for making your night rides more enjoyable.

British Columbia bike advocates urge the local police to take a better approach to bike safety than cracking down on bike riders.

A British writer says you don’t really appreciate your bike commute until you start working from home, and don’t have one anymore.

They get it. Dublin, Ireland is working to encourage safer and more sustainable cycling by building up to 300 secure residential “Bike Bunker” storage units across the city.

Bicyclists in Bengaluru, India complain about the lack of safe infrastructure, and that what little they have is overrun by pedestrians and piled with dust and trash.

A Korean newspaper offers a simple guide to the country’s bikeways “for the uninitiated.”

 

Finally…

That feeling when you get DQ’d for your kinky seatpost. Now you, too, can get over $228,000 worth of bike parts and office furniture for a $3,500 bid.

And enjoy your aperitivo before dinner. But maybe after your next ride.

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Nobody bug me after 5:30 today. The Dodgers are up 3-0 and Ohtani’s pitching. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Support protected bike lanes on PCH, bikemakers spinning from Trump’s tariffs, and two men murdered over stolen bikes

Day 105 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Streets For All is urging you to voice your support for protected bike lanes on Pacific Coast Highway at tonight’s virtual community workshop. Or at least email your support.

Tell Caltrans:
We Need Protected Bike Lanes On PCH!

Caltrans is releasing a draft of the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Studyfor a 60-day public review period. They are hosting two virtual community workshops and will be taking comment via email.

While the current plan includes some protected bike lanes, there will be a gap between Rambla Pacifico Street and Carbon Canyon Road. Tell Caltrans that ALL bike lanes on PCH need to be protected, for the safety of drivers, bikers, and pedestrians.

Virtual Community Work Shops

Wednesday, April 16, from 6 – 8 PM Join here

Monday, May 12, from 1 – 3 PM Join here

Can’t make it to either meeting? Use the button below to send an email comment to Caltrans!

EMAIL PUBLIC COMMENT HERE [BE SURE TO EDIT THE BOTTOM!]

Photo from Caltrans press release.

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Once again, Trump’s tariffs on bicycles, and the industry’s response to them, are the common theme in today’s news.

The Liberty Justice Center, described as a libertarian public-interest firm, has filed the first suit over Trump’s tariffs, arguing he overstepped his authority as president in imposing them.

Indiana’s Guardian Bikes is responding to the new tariffs with $39 million in new financing to re-shore their manufacturing by building the country’s first large-scale framebuilding operation. Although they could be in trouble if our mercurial president cancels them.

Britain’s Starling Cycles is offering a worldwide 5% discount on their handmade steel mountain bikes to partially offset Trump’s 10% tariff on British imports.

Taiwanese bikemaking giant Giant Manufacturing suffered a decline in sales last month after a massive 31% boost in February, as the market appeared to be responding to the threat of tariffs.

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It’s happened again. And again.

Disputes over stolen bikes sadly turned deadly, taking the lives of two men on opposite sides of the country.

Two Portland men are in custody on murder and theft charges, and police are looking for another person of interest, after a man was killed confronting the suspects as they allegedly tried to steal a bicycle from his car; the victim was described as one of the town’s “sweetest souls.”

And a New York man was fatally stabbed in the stomach, the allegedly stolen bike left lying in the street as he died; a suspect was taken into custody afterwards, however, there’s no word on whether he was the thief or the victim of the theft.

As we’ve said too many times before, no bicycle is worth your life. We all love our bikes, but seriously, just let it go and live to ride another day.

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This one bears repeating if you missed it yesterday.

Air quality in Paris, France improved dramatically as the city shifted from car-choked streets to a bicycle and pedestrian friendly 15-minute city, with nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter dropping by 50% and 55%, respectively, over just the last 20 years.

Which is exactly what can and should happen in Los Angeles, if our elected leaders would stop fighting efforts to improve safety and shift to greener streets.

Unfortunately, that seems to be a very big if.

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

No surprise here. Bicyclists taking part in Sunday’s 18th annual Tour de Houston soundly booed the city’s mayor, after he ordered protected bike lanes ripped out and replaced by sharrows.

No bias here. Cornwall, England city leaders reversed course and decided bike riders are welcome at the city’s recycling centers, after one man was told he couldn’t ride his bike up to one, and needed to arrive in a car or truck if he wanted to recycle his trash instead of sending it to the dump.

A Dublin, Ireland city counselor elevated the “I’m a cyclist, but…” cliche to a whole new level, continuing his efforts to block a planned new bike lane after an appeals court overturned a previous ruling blocking it — despite claiming that he rides his bike to work every day, and supports bike lanes “where appropriate in the right areas.” Here’s a clue for him: Bike lanes are appropriate anywhere and everywhere cars are allowed on the streets, if only because they’re not needed anywhere else. 

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Local 

Speaking of PCH, you may be able to resume riding on the highway this summer, as Governor Newsom promises it will reopen by the end of May, after closing in January due to the Palisades Fire.

 

State

About damn time. A bill in the California legislature would create a new class of electric bikes, reclassifying throttle-controlled bikes without pedals as “eMotos,” while clarifying they are intended as offroad vehicles, rather than bicycles.

Gear Junkie offers highlights from last week’s Sea Otter Classic, including a new 3D-printed honeycomb bike helmet.

 

National

Authorities are looking for a missing 16-year old Kansas girl with mental health issues who disappeared after going out for a bike ride.

Massachusetts is ready to launch their ebike rebate program, offering 3,000 vouchers for up to $1,200 off the purchase of an ebike. That’s three times as many vouchers as California will release at the end of this month, in a state with less than one-fifth the population. 

 

International

Momentum recommend’s 30 of the world’s most beautiful bicycle routes, including a handful right here in the good ol’ USA.

An American woman who grew up in the Netherlands is working on her Ph.D by riding her bike 1,200 miles across England to talk to female farmers about the future of food production.

Germany’s Avnson is introducing a folding stretch e-cargo bike, which seems to fold into a very awkward shape reminiscent of Picasso’s cubist period.

Bike tourism is booming on the island of Mallorca off the coast of Spain, up 30% compared to this time last year.

The three young Black men known as the Gauta BMX completed their thousand-mile bike ride from Limpopo to Cape Town, South Africa, on a mission to inspire young people across the country while raising awareness about gender-based violence

The family of late Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins complained that her husband, former Olympic and world champ Rohan Dennis, has shown no remorse for her death, and sees himself as the victim despite accidentally killing her when she fell off his SUV, although Hoskins’ mother said she didn’t think Dennis would intentionally harm her.

 

Competitive Cycling

The great Alberto Contador says he was forced to ride a prettier, but slower bicycle in the Tour de France one year, despite complaining it wasn’t as fast as the previous year’s model.

The Cycling Federation of Belize is attempting to recruit more women cyclists, with only ten female bike racers currently registered in the entire country.

 

Finally…

Your dog — living or stuffed, apparently — can now ride your bike like ET. And forget the bike cam, just get a new drone to follow everywhere you ride.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

PCH public workshops back on the table, support bike lanes on Vermont Ave, and pedestrian safety expo next month

Day 84 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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SoCal’s killer highway is back on the table.

Caltrans has rescheduled the public workshops to consider the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study to improve safety on the deadly roadway, which remains one of the state’s most popular riding routes, despite a glaring lack of safe infrastructure.

The previously scheduled meetings were postponed due to the Palisades Fire.

Here’s what their press release says.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FOR THE PCH MASTER PLAN FEASIBILITY STUDY

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the City of Malibu invite the public to the Round Three workshops for the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study on April 9 (in-person), April 16 (virtual) and May 12 (virtual). The first three public workshops in July 2024 (Round One) gathered input from residents, businesses and other stakeholders to identify safety priorities for the highway. Based on that input, Caltrans held three more workshops on Aug. 28, Sept. 12 and Oct. 23, 2024 (Round Two), focused on presenting and soliciting feedback on design alternatives and other recommendations to improve safety on PCH. Following Round Two, Caltrans developed a draft of the Study that it will present during the upcoming workshops (Round Three). At the Wednesday, April 9, meeting, Caltrans will formally release the Study to the public and begin the 60-day public review period.

The upcoming workshops will also cover two PCH pavement rehabilitation projects in the cities of Santa Monica, Los Angeles and Malibu, which aim to extend the pavement service life and improve ride quality for motorists on PCH from Santa Monica to the Los Angeles/Ventura County line. Community members are invited to participate in these workshops to learn about the latest updates and provide input.

For more information, please visit the project website or e-mail: 07-pchmpfs@publicinput.com.

Click here to register for the April meeting, or here for the May workshop.

Photo from the Caltrans press release.

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Streets For All is calling for support for bike lanes on Vermont Ave at Thursday’s Metro board meeting.

Something that’s required under Measure HLA as part of the city’s mobility plan when the street is re-striped to install bus lanes, even if Metro’s lawyers don’t seem to agree.

On Thursday the Metro board has an item on its agenda (Item 9) to approve the LPA (locally preferred alternative) for the Vermont Bus Rapid Transit Project.

Vermont Ave has more bus riders than any other street in LA County, and we think BRT on this street is one of the highest impact transit projects in the region. We are incredibly supportive of the project.

However, Vermont is also one of the most dangerous streets in LA with nearly 50 people killed in the last decade. Despite this, Metro has aggressively pushed back on implementing Measure HLA‘s required bike lanes as part of the Vermont BRT project.

If the bike lanes don’t go in during this project, when Metro is doing the expensive work (curb ramps, repaving, etc.), then the City of Los Angeles will be fully responsible for implementing them at a later time, entirely on its own dime.

At a time when both road deaths and the City’s budget deficit are at a record high, we cannot afford to not implement the bike lanes as part of this project.

Click the link for tips on how to help.

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LA Public Health is hosting a pedestrian safety expo in Roosevelt Park on Friday, April 11th.

And yes, it matters, because we’re all pedestrians at some point (click here if the tweet/xeet doesn’t embed).

https://twitter.com/heybikela/status/1904350768951673220

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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 right-wing group called for a DOGE-style crackdown on “unethical” British bicycling and walking advocacy group Sustrans, and its “taxpayer-funded, deeply unpopular, and undemocratic restrictions on motorists.” Um, sure. Because nothing is more unethical than taking an inch of road space from overly entitled drivers. 

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

A 49-year old man was killed as he exited his double-parked car and was struck by New York food delivery rider on an ebike who reportedly blew through a stop sign.

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Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

San Diego public TV and radio station KBPS examines the city’s new draft Street Design Manual, which calls for narrower lanes and more options for protected bike lanes, but still allows slip lanes and right turns on red.

Downtown Temecula will get a trio of new green bike lanes, replacing the current white-striped lanes to make them more visible.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a 59-year old man was killed when he was struck by a driver while riding his bicycle. And no, ABC10, he did not “collide with” the car, someone driving a car crashed into him — as the story itself says in the second paragraph, contradicting the headline and lede. 

 

National

Around 70 Portlanders rode in support of a Palestinian paracycling team 7,000 miles away.

Denver is releasing the year’s first round of ebike vouchers, offering $450 off a standard ebike or $1,400 for an adaptive ebike. Meanwhile, California has only managed to release a single extremely throttled round of vouchers, limiting it to just a tiny fraction of the demand. 

About “100 real-life human beings” turned out for a Chicago bike ride to call for replacing parking spaces with a protected bike lane on an Uptown street.

Untapped New York introduces the bicycling advocates who are keeping up the good fight for better bike infrastructure, despite Trump’s freeze on federal funding.

Philadelphia bike riders are happy to see plans call for a protected bike lane on a bridge over the Schuylkill River, but don’t like the two-way design that doesn’t line up with existing bike lanes on either side.

Speaking of Philly, a bike lane placed in the middle of a neighborhood sidewalk is drawing mixed reactions. So let me simplify this: Sidewalk level bike lanes good, bike lanes in the middle of the sidewalk bad.

 

International

Momentum offers a beginners guide to getting started with bike commuting.

A new British study shows the safety in numbers hypothesis even applies to e-scooters, finding the presence of e-scooters appears to result in a 20 percent reduction in the risk of bicycling collisions.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 20-year old man will spend just 13 years behind bars for murdering a 34-year old father-to-be, in what began as an effort to retrieve a stolen ebike, and escalated to a series of threatening emails and roadside arguments before the killer stabbed the victim to death; two other men who were with the killer at the time of the stabbing were arrested, but not charged.

You still have time to make it to Liège, Belgium for Bike Week.

 

Competitive Cycling

UCI’s Track Cycling League bit the dust, killed by an apparent lack of interest after just five events in four years; it will be replaced by a new Track World Cup.

Double Tour de France champ Jonas Vingegaard is back to gentle training after suffering a concussion earlier this month when he crashed during Paris-Nice.

Thirty-nine-year old Los Angeles-based former pro and current author Phil Gaimon will be honored with the Legends Award at next month’s Redlands Bicycle Classic, a race he won in 2012 and 2015.

 

Finally….

Start bike commuting, and say goodbye to road rage. Your next ebike could be a boat, or a camper. Or both.

And that feeling when you think you could do a better job of restructuring the government than Elon Musk, and offer your services as a bike-making outsider.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Update: Road cyclist killed on PCH near Thornhill Broome Beach in Ventura County, another victim of SoCal’s killer highway

Southern California’s deadliest roadway has claimed another life.

This time in Ventura County. And once again, the victim appears to be a road cyclist.

According to the Ventura County Star, the victim was struck by a motorist while riding in the northbound lanes of Pacific Coast Highway shortly before 11:15 this morning.

They place the crash in Ventura County near the sand dunes south of Thornhill Broome Beach, about 2.4 miles south of Mugu Rock.

Meanwhile, KVTA 1590 places the collision on PCH north of Sycamore Canyon Road at 11:13 am.

The station reports the victim was leading a group of eight other bicyclists on the shoulder of the highway when the rider allegedly made an abrupt turn into the northbound traffic lane, and was hit by a driver traveling at 55 mph.

Ventura County firefighters said someone was performing CPR on the victim when they arrived. Unfortunately, despite their efforts, the victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and additional units were called off.

There’s no information yet on the identity of the victim or the driver. And no word on why the victim may have swerved into the traffic lane, or what group the riders may have been associated with, if any.

Despite recent efforts to improve safety, too many people have died, and continue to die, on PCH as a result of traffic violence. And too many of those have been riding bicycles.

This was at least the seventh bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first that I’m aware of in Ventura County.

Update: The victim has been identified only as a 66-year old Los Angeles man, though he has still not been publicly named, while the driver was a 37-year old woman from Malibu, also unnamed.

Update 2: The victim has been identified as 66-year old Los Angeles resident John C. McLaughlin. A comment from Damian Kevitt below says McLaughlin was on a training ride with LA Tri Club when he was killed.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for John C. McLaughlin and all his loved ones.

Malibu Canyon fire could affect today’s rides, Rohan Dennis cops guilty plea, and support Brand Blvd & Forest Lawn Drive

In just 3 weeks, Los Angeles will complete a Decade of Failure as traffic deaths continue to climb.
And yet, not one city official has so much as mentioned the impending Vision Zero deadline, which we will fail to meet on January 1st.
Then again, it’s hard to make much progress when the city failed to fund it, did next to nothing and never took it seriously. 

………

It’s Day 12 of the 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Stephen S and Michael G for their generous donations to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming to your favorite screen every morning.

So what are you waiting for?

Stop what you’re doing and donate now! 

………

Breaking: Check the status of your route if you’re planning to ride in Malibu today.

A late fire broke out near the Pepperdine area last night, rapidly spreading to both sides of Malibu Canyon Road.

Malibu Canyon will definitely be closed today, and PCH could be affected by morning. Air quality on PCH will depend on which way the wind is blowing; an offshore wind would bring smoke from the fire, which is highly toxic, to the entire coastal area.

………

Guilty. Sort of.

Former world champ cyclist Rohan Dennis pled guilty to a reduced charge in the death of his wife, fellow Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins, last December.

The 34-year old Dennis faces a maximum of seven years behind bars and a five-year loss of license for accepting a plea of one count of aggravated creating the likelihood of harm, after prosecutors dropped the initial charges of dangerous driving causing death and driving without due care.

However, nothing has been said in court yet to explain the events leading to Hoskins death.

Initial reports suggested Hoskins fell from the hood of Dennis’ SUV as he tried to speed away from their home, falling to the roadway while trying to reach down to open the door.

Allegedly.

Dennis is due to be sentenced at a date to be set later.

………

Glendale’s North Brand Boulevard Complete Streets Demonstration Project is drawing mixed reviews, with competing petitions calling for ripping it out or making improvements.

Bike Walk Glendale calls for supporting Option 1 at tonight’s city council meeting to determine its fate.

A petition supporting the project currently has just 271 signatures.

………

Streets For All calls for emailing your support for the proposed protected bike lanes on Forest Lawn Drive.

Forest Lawn Dr has long been a key route for cyclists to get to/from Griffith Park. It’s also been a dangerous street, with 74% of vehicles driving above the speed limit. Between 2013 and 2023, there have been 95 crashes, with 3 people being severely injured or killed.

For over two years, Councilmember Nithya Raman has been working with LADOT and the Bureau of Street Services to repave the street and add protection to the bike lanes, while right-sizing the number of vehicle lanes compared to demand.

Meanwhile, Streets Are For Everyone’s petition supporting the project stands at just a handful of signatures; I plan on adding my name to it in the morning.

And Michael Guzik forwards word that the overwhelming majority of commenters at last week’s open house opposed the project, which I’m told included a number of morticians who might be slightly inconvenienced by it.

Which could be a problem, since we’ve learned the hard way here in LA that it’s not a question of what has the most support, but who screams the loudest.

………

It’s now 355 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 42 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

The program is finally scheduled to launch December 18th, so get your application in.

………

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

The 23-year old man accused of killing a bike-riding mom when he intentionally drove into her ebike in Derbyshire, England has been ordered to stand trial next year on a charge of murder, as well as attempted murder for seriously injuring the man she was riding with.

No bias here. A British restaurant owner complains that a “pointless” bike lane and the resulting loss of parking is destroying his business, despite city officials pointing out that safe and attractive streets boost economic activity.

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

The blind leader of a Scottish charity for the visually impaired says he and the group’s cofounder were threatened by a bike rider who allegedly sped through a red-light and nearly crashed into their guide dogs as they were crossing the street, as the rider screamed that he had the right-of-way.

An 85-year old Japanese man was killed when a 16-year old girl crashed her bike into him while riding on a walking path, saying she didn’t see him because her head was down due to the cold. A reminder that no matter what conditions you’re riding in, always keep your head up and watch where you’re going. 

………

………

Local  

Los Angeles will install one hundred license plate readers in 50 locations throughout the city in an effort to fight crime, which could be helpful in identifying hit-and-run drivers.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers his typically great photos from Sunday’s CicLAvia in the West San Fernando Valley.

Metro approved $135 million to move forward on the long-delayed NoHo-to-Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit, aka BRT, and Complete Streets project to get it ready for the pre-construction phase.

Claremont resident Donna Orange was honored with a ghost bike ceremony in Upland Saturday; the 80-year old world-class endurance bicyclist and renowned psychologist was killed when she was left-crossed by a driver while she was riding through an intersection, apparently with the right-of-way.

 

State

Orange County’s Bay View Trail pedestrian bridge underwent an unexpected closure at the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve yesterday. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link. 

Cutbacks in California’s Active Transportation Program hit the San Diego area hard, with all 16 proposed projects denied state funding.

This is who we share the road with. Eleven people watching a Palm Springs holiday parade were injured when a police officer lost control of his motorcycle while reportedly attempting a wheelie to entertain the crowd; the motorcycle cop was expected to recover from a hand injury. Although his reputation and job prospects may be another matter. 

 

National

Gear Junkie looks at the year’s best e-foldies.

Momentum recommends the 12 best US cities to live in if you ride a bicycle, none of which is Los Angeles, although San Diego made the list.

The police chief of Wenatchee, Washington got into an “SUV vs bicycle” fender bender on Friday, even though most bicycles don’t have fenders and it was the bike rider, not the bicycle, who was likely to suffer the consequences; fortunately, the victim was not seriously injured.

Seattle is getting a new bike and pedestrian bridge over a major highway this weekend.

They get it, anyway. A Las Vegas TV station put responsibility for a fatal bike crash on the driver of a semi-truck, rather than blaming the truck itself; the victim was reportedly riding in a crosswalk when the driver blew through the red light without stopping.

‘Tis the season. Milwaukee’s annual Santa Cycle Rampage drew a record number of riders, with up to 2000 official participants. Which implies there may have been even more unofficial participants. 

A review finds that over half of Minnesotans who received an ebike rebate had incomes over $80,000, suggesting they could probably hav purchased one without assistance from the state, while two out of five had incomes over a hundred grand.

In a pleasant change, over 250 local residents and business signed a letter urging support for a proposed Complete Streets project in Evanston, Illinois, after a handful of business owners opposed it.

New York’s annual bicycling survey showed a record number of riders for the fourth year in a row; the city counts bicyclists crossing the city’s East River bridges to extrapolate estimates for the rest of the city.

Ride Apart says Gotham’s proposal to license and insure ebikes just sounds like a cash grab.

Philadelphia is making a little more progress with their Vision Zero program, compared to Los Angeles, as traffic deaths declined slightly though they’re still higher than during the pandemic.

 

International

Good news from the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, where a 47-year old Canadian man was found relatively safe after two days lost deep in the jungle, after disappearing while riding his bike; a friend described the experience as “a Tarzan story.”

He gets it, too. An advisor to British Conservative Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak urged the party to stop bashing bicyclists, arguing that the “enormous noise on social media” and “hate” felt by some party members doesn’t mean that bikes are “vote losers with the general public.” We learned the same lesson here when Measure HLA passed with two-thirds support this year, despite a flood of negative comments. 

‘Tis the season, two. Residents of a Kiwi retirement home refurbished 20 bicycles to give to local kids.

 

Competitive Cycling

Legendary cyclist Eddy Merckx was hospitalized with a broken hip after what his wife termed a “stupid accident” while riding his bike; it’s was the second hospitalization for the 79-year old Cannibal in recent months, after he had surgery for a bowel obstruction earlier this year.

Bicycling Australia remembers 1920’s cycling champ Sir Hubert Opperman, a four-time national champ and record-setting winner of the 726-mile nonstop Paris-Brest-Paris tour in 1931; his cycling career ended after serving as a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Air Force in WWII, later serving 17 years in the Australian Parliament.

British cycling fans get out the torches and pitchforks, as Mark Cavendish gets snubbed for the Beeb’s Sports Personality of the Year, despite setting the record for Tour de France stage wins.

 

Finally…

Who says fast bikes have to be pretty? You may never win a stage in a Grand Tour, but maybe your next bike did.

And who says you can’t carry a Christmas tree home on a bike, artificial or otherwise?

The tree, that is. Not the bike.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Charlie Brown ready to kick ball as CA ebike voucher launch announced — again, and PCH Master Plan meeting next week

Just 27 short days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 
But not one LA city leader seems to give a damn about it.
Or if they do, they’re not saying anything. 

………

It’s Day 6 of the 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

So join me in thanking Beverly F, James L, Mitchell G, Walter L and Lionel M for their generous donations to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

So what are you waiting for? Stop what you’re doing and donate now!

It’s okay, we’ll wait. 

………

That chill you just felt was hell freezing over.

Streetsblog reports the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB, will finally launch the state’s long delayed ebike voucher program in just two weeks.

No, really, Charlie Brown. Go ahead and kick the football.

According to Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry, the program is now scheduled to launch on December 18th — 42 months after it was approved by the legislature, and almost exactly one year after the last promised launch date (see below).

Seriously, Charlie Brown, we won’t move it this time.

The income-qualified program is scheduled to go live at 6 pm on the 18th, and continue until all the vouchers have been claimed. Which will probably happen almost instantly, given the pent-up demand in a state of nearly 39 million.

According to Curry,

Eligible applicants must be at least 18 years old, with an income of 300 percent of the federal poverty level or less. That means, for example, a one-person household cannot make more than $45,180, and a four-person household no more than $93,600. More information on eligibility can be found here.

Applicants are encouraged to look at the Implementation Manual provided by CARB and ensure they have the proper documents ready to submit once applications go live. Income eligibility must be proven via any of the documents listed on page 16 of the manual (such as tax forms). Although the website encourages people to create a log-in now, before the launch window, it’s not clear how to do so.

Considering how well this program has been run up to this point — including choosing a program under criminal investigation by the state to manage it — they will undoubtedly clarify the process soon.

Right, Charlie Brown? Charlie Brown?

………

It’s now 349 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 42 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

Caltrans is hosting yet another in-person community workshop to discuss the feasibility of safety changes on SoCal’s killer highway through the ‘Bu.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the City of Malibu invite you to the 7th public workshop for the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Master Plan Feasibility Study.

The first three public workshops (Round One) gathered input from residents, businesses, and other stakeholders to identify safety priorities for the highway. Based on that input, the 4th, 5th, and 6th workshops (Round Two) focused on presenting and soliciting feedback on design alternatives and other recommendations to improve safety on PCH. Following Round Two, Caltrans developed a draft of the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study. The upcoming 7th workshop (Round Three) will present the draft Study’s key findings and release the document for a 30-day public review period.

………

It’s the last CicLAvia of the year.

Five miles of Sherman Way will be closed this Sunday from Lindley to Shoup for your riding, scooting, rolling and walking pleasure.

Or rather, closed to motor vehicles, and open to people.

………

Don’t forget tomorrow’s public meeting to consider installing what passes for protected bike lanes in LA on Forest Lawn Drive.

You know, so you don’t become one of Forest Lawn’s customers.

………

Metro is hosting a series of public meetings to gather input on the “transformative” Metro Vermont Transit Corridor Project.

  • Saturday, December 7, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM at Masjid Omar ibn Al-Khattab, 1025 W Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007.
  • Monday, December 9, 2024 from 6:00PM to 8:00 PM at Crenshaw Christian Center, 7901 Vermont Av, Los Angeles, CA 90044
  • Wednesday, December 11, 2024, from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM, virtual via Zoom at https://tinyurl.com/MetroVTC1211.
  • Wednesday, December 11, 2024, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at LA City College Student Union, Room A, 798 N. Heliotrope Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90029.
  • Monday, December 16, 2024 from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM, virtual via Zoom at https://tinyurl.com/MetroVTC1216.

Which means it’s your chance to tell them the busway improvements are great, but they need to do more to protect people on bicycles.

……..

Works for me.

A Toronto advocacy group has hired to lawyer to explore their options, as a new provincial law allows Premier Doug Ford to overrule local officials and rip out popular bike lanes.

Meanwhile, a Hamilton, Ontario bike lane installed after a bike-riding kindergarten teacher was killed is among the 16 bike lanes being considered for removal under a new law sponsored by provincial leader Doug Ford, which removes local oversight of bike lanes.

………

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

Derbyshire Police arrested a 23-year-old man for murder in Mansfield, England, accused of being the driver who deliberately rammed two people riding an ebike off the road, killing a young mother and resulting in the man with her losing his leg below the knee.

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

Police in Wiltshire, England are looking for a man riding a bicycle who punctured another man in the face, apparently with a screwdriver, for no apparent reason. Or at least none the bothered to tell us.

………

………

Local  

Glendale wants to know what you think about citywide traffic and mobility, which means it’s your chance to weigh in on how the city can protect your own safety. Meanwhile, dueling petitions call for “terminating” and preserving the temporary quick-build concrete barrier-protected bike lanes installed on the city’s Brand Blvd back in May.

Santa Clarita will install a pilot protected bike and pedestrian path on Orchard Village Road in the next few weeks.

This is who we share the road with. An LA County Sheriff’s deputy was canned after he was arrested in Long Beach for crashing into a wall and injuring the passenger in his car, while driving at nearly twice the legal alcohol limit.

 

State

They get it. The Santa Cruz Sentinel says California’s new daylighting law will improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians. It should be good for drivers, too. 

Oakland is delaying the promised cycle track it previously expedited following the death of a four-year old girl who was killed by a driver while riding with her father.

Streetsblog’s Roger Ruddick wants to know if Caltrans engineers are intentionally trying to kill bicyclists with their design for the new Vallejo diverging diamond deathtrap interchange. I’d put my money on old fashioned motorhead incompetency. 

Sad news from Rohnert Park, where 69-year old bicycling booster and local cycling team manager Phil Heiman died in a freak accident, after swallowing a bee while warming up for a bike race; a 45-mile “scone ride” will be held in his honor this Friday.

 

National

Slate examines why it’s so darn hard to stop driving, finding that people tend to get stuck in their habits until something happens to make them find a better alternative. Gas shortage, anyone?

Outside named All Bodies on Bikes cofounder Marley Blonsky one of their 2024 Outsiders of the Year for her work to make bicycling more inclusive for riders of all sizes, one group ride at a time; another choice was Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay, the first Black rider to win a stage at the Tour de France.

Electrek looks at the best ebikes, scooters and accessories they saw at the recent Micromobility America show, including hydrogen-powered bikes and a tricycle bucket ebike.

Apparently, not even national parks are safe from hit-and-run drivers, as a 70-year old Hawaiian man was severely injured in a hit-and-run while riding his bike inside Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

The rich get richer, as bike and pedestrian friendly Tucson, Arizona gets more protected bike lanes in the downtown area.

Good idea. An Arizona foundation created by the father of a fallen bicyclist is working with software engineering faculty and students at Arizona State University to develop a “dashcam” for bikes, which attaches to your handlebars and connects to your cellphone to record the license number, images and data of any car that comes too close to your bike.

The Ukrainian immigrant charged with killing 17-year old national team cyclist Magnus White in Colorado last year will face trial in March, after the planned December trial date was delayed due to the absence of a key witness; Yeva Smilianska is charged with reckless vehicular homicide.

A 79-year old Ohio writer says “ebikes are a good choice for many aging riders who still have decent balance, reflexes and vision.” Sounds about right to me.

A 56-year old Texas woman was found a day after she was separated from her husband while riding in a state park; she abandoned her bike after suffering a flat, wandered five miles in a circle before ending up back in the same spot she left her bike, then walked with it until she stumbled on a ranger station 20 miles from where she was last seen.

A former employee of a Richmond, Virginia TV station is trying to find the Good Samaritan who helped him while he was unconscious following a mountain bike crash 16 long years ago, calling for help and even returning his bike to his workplace.

 

International

Momentum selects seven of the best new bike routes around the world to check out in the coming year, including New York’s Empire State Trail and The Great American Rail-Trail, a 3,700-mile continuous trail from Washington, D.C., to Washington State that’s still in the works.

More proof that life is cheap in the UK, where a 75-year old double-decker bus driver walked without a day behind bars for fleeing the scene after crashing into a 13-year old boy riding his bike, but at least he won’t be able to drive again until he’s 76. If you want to know why no one is safe on the streets, this is a good place to start.

A pair of British university educators examine why being located near a bicycle network can boost home property values. Something that holds true on this side of the Atlantic, too. 

A UK cancer charity is sponsoring a fundraising ride along the grueling 724 mile Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift route, riding each of the nine stages a day before the pros to raise money to fight cancer.

 

Competitive Cycling

Apparently, not even the world’s best cyclists are safe from careless drivers, as two-time Olympic and 2024 Vuelta champ Remco Evenepoel suffered a broken shoulder blade, hand and rib, along with bruised lungs and a dislocated collarbone when he was doored by the driver of a postal van while on a training ride in Belgium; witnesses say he was “completely hunched over and extremely pale” after the crash.

The head of New Zealand’s national cycling teams apologized to her family for the “appalling” treatment cyclist Olivia Podmore endured as part of the country’s national team, leading to her suspected suicide in 2021 just one day after the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games, after she was left off the team.

 

Finally…

If the city won’t change the signs to prevent parking in a bike lane, just change ’em yourself. When you’re already drunk and riding your bike with an open bottle of purloined wine, it’s not the best idea to threaten to bite the cops busting you.

And that feeling when your final wish for one last bike ride depends on whether the funeral home can find a tandem hearse.

Not that, you’d be feeling anything at that point. But still.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Protected bike lanes preferred on PCH, road-raging footballers attack bike rider, and Pasadena makes best bike lanes list

Just 57 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

There may be hope for SoCal’s killer highway after all.

At least in Malibu.

According to the Malibu Times, a recent survey conducted by Caltrans showed that protected bike lanes were heavily favored over painted bike lanes by respondents, with one-way lanes on both sides slightly favored over two-way bike lanes.

According to Caltrans rep Ryan Snyder, California’s new law mandating Complete Streets on Caltrans projects requires bike lanes on the full stretch of highway through the ‘Bu.

“SB 960 mandates that we create bike lanes for the entire length of PCH in Malibu.” He said. “In what is often referredto as the 8 to 80 principle, we must adhere to the concept that bike lanes should be safe for any users between the ages of 8 and 80.  We propose that we build buffered/colored and/or protected bike lanes on Las Flores on the mountain side as well as between Las Flores Road and the Malibu Pier area and between the Pier area and the western city limits.”

Respondents preferred a landscaped median to other alternatives, while lane reductions and traffic circles are also under consideration to make space and slow traffic.

Photo shows Los Angeles demonstration demanding protected bike lanes.

………

Evidently, getting cut from the football team following rape accusations wasn’t enough for a former University of Washington football player.

He had to follow it up with a road rage attack on a bicyclist.

In a case we’ve been following since March, the victim was riding his bike home after just learning about the death of his college roommate, when Tylin “Tybo” Rogers and his teammate, Diesel Gordon, began following him in their car, honking and yelling at him for the crime of simply being in front of them on the roadway.

The victim responded, as I probably would have, by flipping them off.

Rogers, who was already facing charges for the rape accusations, and Gordon then tried to hit him with their car, before getting out and chasing the victim down a stairwell.

That portion of the attack was captured on security cam video, which was released by investigators on Friday.

Gordon can be heard calling the victim a homophobic slur, then spits on him several times before Rogers shoves the victim to the ground. Rogers then hits him in the face with enough force to send his glasses flying, which he then stomps on.

Both players have pled guilty to misdemeanor assault — which is a gift under the circumstances.

They each face a maximum of just under a year in county jail, and a lousy $5,000 fine.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

People For Bikes ranks the year’s best new bike lanes in the US.

None of which are in Los Angeles, of course.

However, Pasadena’s Union Street two-way protected bike lane comes in at a very respectable #6, which the magazine praises as a “cyclist-friendly corridor (that) connects key destinations and aligns with Pasadena’s commitment to sustainable transportation.”

The new 17th Street complex in Santa Monica was ranked 16th.

Maybe someday, a Los Angeles bike lane will once again make the exclusive list. But today is not that day, my friends

………

It’s now 319 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

Seriously? Residents of Queens are fighting a planned 16-mile bike path along the waterfront over fears it will turn the suburban area “into another bustling urban district” and attract scooter-riding bandits, amid the usual cries of “where are we going to put our cars?” I could make a suggestion.

An Ontario, Canada bicyclist says Provincial Premier Doug Fords plans to rip out bike lanes isn’t really about the lanes, it’s about bringing cancel culture to people who live differently from the rest; meanwhile, a Toronto columnist warns that Ford’s proposal is a trap.

A Scottish ebike rider says he suffers from PTSD and is scarred for life after he was run down by a road-raging driver and sent skidding 16 feet across the roadway; the driver was sentenced to a well-deserved 44 months behind bars for using his car as a “weapon.”

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

A British tabloid is appalled by the “shocking” moment a man on a Lime bike crashed into a small boy as he ran across a bike lane to get to a floating bike stop — before acknowledging the bicyclist did try to stop before hitting the kid, who darted out in front of of him.

………

Local  

Culver City’s more conservative government continues to rip out the successful MOVE Culver City protected bike lanes, in an apparent effort to let drivers go “zoom, zoom!” to their heart’s content while returning the roadways to their previous dangerous state.

 

State

Sad news from San Jose, where a man has died 11 years after he was struck by a motorist while riding a bicycle in the city, and placed into long-term care; the victim was not publicly identified, and there’s no word on whether the driver ever faced charges.

Good question. Fast Company asks if San Francisco can’t turn coastal highway into into a linear park, who can?; the proposal to permanently close the 100-year old Great Highway faces a ballot measure Tuesday to keep it open.

A San Raphael lawyer and founder of an ebike advocacy group says he’s all in on ebikes, but there has to be restrictions on throttle-controlled electric motorcycles posing as bicycles.

 

National

Cycling Weekly considers what tomorrow’s presidential election means for bicyclists, before concluding it all really hinges on control of Congress.

A new product pledges to give you realtime bike tire PSI readings as you ride; evidently, a lot of people want it, because the Kickstarter campaign has raised more than $105,000 over the very modest $3,000 goal.

Bicyclists in Portland are calling for greater safety and accountability after two people were killed riding bikes in the same neighborhood on the same day.

Denver bicyclists took over a street to protest the city’s decision to backslide on a previously committed protected bike lane, after business owners protested the loss of a couple hundred parking spaces; the riders demonstrated the need for protection by lining the street with red solo cups marking out a bike lane, which were all run over within minutes.

Once again, a New York motorist has killed a bicyclist while fleeing from the cops, after a minivan driver fled a traffic stop and ran down a man in his 30s a few blocks away; NYPD cops are still looking for the hit-and-run driver.

Chappell Roan is one of us, going for a group ride with friends in New York, sans costume, prior to her Saturday appearance on Saturday Night Live.

How New Yorkers make room for their bikes in cramped apartments with no room for bikes.

Dockless bikeshare and e-scooter provider Lime says it’s ready for an IPO on the NYSE, once market conditions improve.

A 22-year old Florida man is back behind bars for stalking and shooting at a man driving away from a convenience store, just nine months after he was released on probation after killing another man in an argument over a bicycle when he was 17.

 

International

Bike Radar asks mountain bike brands why so many are getting into the gravel bike business. Short answer, because that’s where the money is. Longer answer, it’s the fastest growing category in the bicycle industry.

The Guardian’s Peter Walker says yes, speeding ebike riders are a menace, but the solution isn’t to kick bicycles into the roadway, as Birmingham, England considers banning all bicycles from the city’s pedestrianized streets — especially when the real problem is illegally souped-up ebikes belonging to food couriers.

A new UK government study shows that after taking a bicycle awareness course, driving instructors are less likely to believe that bike riders are “nuisances,” or that collisions are usually the bicyclist’s fault.

A Czech driver faces up to five years behind bars for allegedly fleeing the scene after running down a 42-year old man riding a bicycle, before returning to collect evidence of the crash, including the victim’s mangled bike wheel.

In this country, distracted drivers face a lousy ticket for using their phone behind the wheel; in Japan, distracted bike riders could face jail time for simply scrolling while pedaling. And don’t even think about biking under the influence, which could net you up to three years behind bars.

 

Finally…

Your next e-mountain bike won’t be a Yamaha, after all. American hit-and-run drivers often claim they hit a dog or a deer; Down Under, they claim it’s a kangaroo.

And mounting your exercise bike on a scooter does not a roadworthy vehicle make.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Tinkering at edges of PCH safety, fighting WeHo bike lanes that could benefit all, and more on Parisian road rage murder

Just 70 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s now been a full year since a driver killed four members of a Pepperdine sorority while allegedly speeding at over 100 mph in a 45 mph zone, at the appropriately named Dead Man’s Curve in Malibu. 

It took the deaths of Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams to call attention to the dangers bike riders have been aware of for years. Or at least since Scott Bleifer and Stanislav Ionov were killed by a food truck driver almost 20 years ago.

And probably a lot longer, and far too many since. Including people on foot, and on bicycles.

In the year since, Malibu residents have gone from too frequently opposing safety improvement on the killer highway, to actually demanding them.

It’s about damn time.

The city and state have made a number of improvements over the past year, from increasing traffic enforcement to getting state approval for a limited number of speed cams.

Not to mention adjusting traffic lanes, widening shoulders and introducing a public safety campaign.

None of it seems to have made a significant difference, at least not yet. Despite everything, there has been just one less crash on the highway this year than this time last year, with most speed related.

And it probably won’t. At least unless and until the highway is re-imagined from the current pass-through speedway, to the beachfront roadway and Malibu Main Street it always should have been.

Tinkering at the edges didn’t prevent the deaths of those four students, and more tinkering probably won’t prevent the next tragedy.

Or the ones after that.

………

No bias here.

According to WeHo Online, over half of people responding to West Hollywood’s 2024 Strategic Plan Baseline Survey are concerned or very concerned about traffic congestion, while 43% thought lack of safe bike lanes was “not too serious” a problem.

Even though safe and convenient bike lanes could help reduce congestion by providing an alternative to driving.

But that apparently never occurred to them.

Meanwhile, West Hollywood residents conducted dueling rallies for and against the lane reduction and protected bike lanes proposed for Fountain Avenue.

The West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition hosted the Rally for Safer Streets and Vigil for Victims of Traffic Violence calling for improvements to the deadly street, which has seen 93 traffic crashes in just the last five years.

At the same time, a smaller group sponsored by the WeHo Chamber of Commerce called for keeping the street just as dangerous as it is now so they won’t have to slow down, and can keep their parking spaces.

Maybe they should read this Momentum piece, which offers eight ways bike lanes benefit communities.

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Bicyclists gathered by the hundreds in Paris and around France to demand an end to road rage, after a driver intentionally ran down a 27-year old man as he rode his bicycle on a physically separated bike lane last week.

The driver faces charges of culpable homicide, which is a significant step down from the original murder charge, and appears to be comparable to our involuntary homicide.

Unfortunately, others responded by vandalizing dozens of SUVs in an overnight revenge attack, puncturing the tires of 65 oversized vehicles.

Le Monde calls the crash a “tragic illustration of the difficulties of coexisting in a society marked by increasing individualism and incivility.”

Or it could just be that motor vehicles just bring out the worst in people who are safely ensconced in a mobile weapon of mass destruction.

………

Hats off to Specialized, which will offer free basic repairs on Saturday in an effort to get one million bikes back on the road.

………

One of the most common arguments against installing bike lanes is that they could inconvenience handicapped people, who need to get around, too.

Never mind that bicycles can make effective mobility devices for people who might otherwise struggle to get around.

But don’t take my word for it.

Our German correspondent, Ralph Durham, took a break from Octoberfest to forward photos of a bike he regularly encounters, which has been specially customized to accommodate a man who needs crutches to get around.

Photos by Ralph Durham

………

Megan Lynch forwards a reminder that we got to lay a little rubber on San Diego’s I-805 before all those drivers ruined it for us.

………

It’s now 306 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, Thousand Oaks will introduce its own ebike incentive program for income-qualified residents in January. Which will probably be long before we ever see the statewide program launch, if it ever does. Thanks again to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

………

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

Toronto’s mayor says she does not support an anti-bike plan from the Ontario premier and transport minister to put the province in charge of when and where bike lanes are built; Toronto letter writers say the transport minister’s anti-bike lane arguments are easily refuted, then proceed to do it. Of course, “not supporting” is not the same as actively opposing it.

Ireland’s Social Democrats are accused of engaging in anti bike-lane “culture war nonsense.” Which is a pretty good way to describe most anti-bike lane campaigns. 

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

Police in Des Plaines, Illinois released photos of an apparent road-raging bike rider who repeatedly stabbed a driver.

………

Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Laguna Beach is gearing up for the first ever Laguna Bicycle Festival this coming weekend.

 

National

Proving once again that there are still good people in the world, a TikToker calling himself the Neighborhood Bike Repair Dude keeps snacks and drinks on hand for hungry kids, responding “that’s the point” when someone said the kids would keep coming if he kept feeding them.

If you know Justin Timberlake, these Portland kids want him to join their weekly bike bus.

Now you, too, can bike all 33 miles around the rim of Oregon’s Crater Lake.

Not surprisingly, New York bicyclists aren’t happy about being unable to crash the New York Marathon route before the race starts. Just like Los Angeles bike riders used to be able to do, but can’t anymore. 

Only in New Orleans can you bike the vote to a second line beat.

 

International

Tragic news from the UK, where two best friends, both fathers, were killed when one fell off his ebike after a daylong pub crawl, and the other stepped into the roadway to stop traffic; both men were struck by the driver of a Mini Cooper, who was exonerated by police after claiming he didn’t have time to stop on the dark roadway.

Britain’s transport minister says he”d feel safe letting his young kids ride bikes on the streets of London. No word, however, on whether he actually does let them.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 82-year old Dutch woman isn’t just still riding — she’s still riding the same bike she’s had since she was 13.

Japan is cracking down on scofflaw bicyclists; anyone who rides under the influence or uses a cellphone while riding will be subject to heavy fines or possible jail time. Thanks once again to Megan Lynch.

Australian experts are calling for more innovative steps to make city’s cleaner and improve public health, like offering financial incentives to stop driving and take transit or bike to work.

 

Competitive Cycling

Heartbreaking news from the UK, where six-time Olympic cycling champ Sir Chris Hoy announced he has stage four prostate cancer, which has spread to form tumors in his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine and ribs; his doctors say he has just two to four years to live. Meanwhile, his wife suffers from multiple sclerosis, an incurable, degenerative autoimmune disease.

 

Finally…

That feeling when bike lanes are, indeed, brat. You can’t judge a book by its cover, but apparently you can judge a potential date by their bike.

And more proof you can carry just aboutanything on a bicycle.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Garden Grove mom fears for gravely injured 5-year old hit-and-run victim, and Caltrans discusses PCH safety feasibility

Just 174 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

My apologies, again. 

On top of everything else I’ve been dealing with lately, I’ve had a major flare-up in my diabetic neuropathy, which knocked me on my ass Monday night. Or maybe it was just everything I took trying to control it. 

Also, let me know if you’re interested in filling in for me when I’m out of commission next month, whether you’d like to pen a single post, or take over this site a day or two.

Anything goes, as long as it’s related to bicycles or traffic safety. 

Just email me at the address on the About page if you’re interested in volunteering. 

And thanks to tomexploresla for today’s graphics.

………

Graphic by tomexploresla

The news from Garden Grove is getting worse.

On Monday, we discussed the allegedly drunken hit-and-run that took out an entire family in Garden Grove Sunday evening, as the parents were towing their children in child seats and bike trailers.

The crash left the father and two kids critically injured, while hospitalizing the mom and her eight-month old baby.

Now the mother is reporting that, while the father and one child are showing some signs of improvement, their five-year old son, Jacob Ramirez, suffered significant brain damage in the crash, and may not survive his injuries.

A witness followed the driver as he attempted to flee, and police arrested the driver, identified as 29-year-old Santa Ana resident Ceferino Ramos.

A crowdfunding campaign for the family has raised nearly $33,000 of the $100,000 goal.

Although there are also reports that someone created a fake crowdfunding page in the family’s name, demonstrating once again that there are no limits to just how low some people will go to scam others.

………

Caltrans is hosting a series of public meetings, starting tomorrow, to discuss the feasibility of improving safety on deadly PCH through Malibu.

Although the only thing that will really improve safety would be converting the highway into a slow-speed Main Street designed to serve the local community and all road users, rather than pass-through commuters.

………

San Diego announced the official opening of the re-imagined Pershing Drive, transforming the previous car sewer into a tamed street with a fully separated, two-way bikeway stretching from North Park to Downtown.

The street was an auto-centric hellhole when I lived down there four decades ago. And something tells me it didn’t get any better since. So this should be a huge improvement.

Meanwhile, the two-year old closure of popular two-lane shortcut Bachman Place will extend for yet another year, before eventually reopening with “bikeway enhancements” connecting the Mission Valley and Hillcrest neighborhoods.

………

Streets For All is urging you to attend one of a series of public meetings, including today in Pico Rivera and tomorrow in El Monte, to tell Caltrans to stop flushing our hard-earned tax money down the toilet, and cancel induced demand-inducing plans to widen the 605 Freeway.

It’s long past time to drive a stake through this proposal that somehow keeps rising from the dead, and spend the money on transit, bike and pedestrian projects, instead.

………

Megan Lynch forwards video of a woman harassing a New York food delivery rider for the crime of wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh around his neck, calling him a terrorist and blocking his bike with her car.

………

It’s now 202 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.

Meanwhile, Santa Monica is accepting applications for approximately 90 vouchers worth up to $2,000 toward the purchase of ebikes or bicycles, along with safety equipment including helmets, locks and lights for income-qualified residents.

And Salt Lake City has launched their own program, providing up to $1,300 off the purchase of a new ebike, depending on the model and the buyer’s income level.

………

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

That’s more like it. Pennsylvania prosecutors have thrown the book at a road-raging 57-year old Mechanicsburg PA man who deliberately rammed a bike rider and tried to run them off the road, charging him with attempted aggravated assault by vehicle, recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats and other offenses.

Anti-bike agitators are spreading “factually incorrect and negative” rumors suggesting trees will be chopped down to make room for what will eventually be the UK’s biggest bike lane.

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

A 55-year old man in Oxford, England is on trial for “wantonly or furiously” bicycling for killing an 81-year old woman, who died in the hospital days after they collided on a pathway.

Bike riders in Bournemouth, England are coming under criticism for riding recklessly and weaving around pedestrians on a beachfront pathway.

More bad behavior in Wales, where young bicyclists are accused of causing serious damage to a nature preserve by building their own cycle track and mountain bike jumps.

There’s even bad behavior from the Tour de France, where Belgian cyclist Victor Campenaerts was observed peeing into an empty water bottle, and throwing the piss-filled bottle into a field.

………

Local 

Streetsblog reports city officials are beginning planning work on closing Wilshire Blvd between Alvarado and Carondelet Streets to reconnect the two sides of severed MacArthur Park. While they’re at it, why don’t they just close the whole damn thing from the Pacific to DTLA?

The author of Bike Seattle received an epiphany on a visit to Long Beach, when he realized Seattle could use bikeshare docks to daylight intersection, like Long Beach’s “wonderful” legacy bikeshare system.

 

State

A Santa Barbara writer says something has to be done about young ebike riders throughout the city, complaining that juvenile riders don’t have the training to operated motorized bicycles. Although as we’ve discussed lately, it’s not clear if he’s talking about teens riding ped-assist bicycles, or throttle-controlled electric motorbikes.

Caltrans will install seven miles of new bike lanes on Palo Alto’s El Camino Real. Now someone tell them to do PCH next.

San Francisco residents got out the torches and pitchforks at a community meeting to discuss a proposed bike network in the North Beach neighborhood, fearing it could be another Valencia Street.

A San Francisco website suggests what while doorings are down in the city, a recent death highlights a neighborhood divide, as safety improvements have skipped some areas populated by people of color.

 

National

Forbes vets the best electric foldies.

Bicycling suggests that bikemakers should offer more lightweight bikes for heavyweight riders who outweigh pro cyclists. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you. 

A Denver TV station is raising funds for a makeover of a young boy’s room for when he gets out of the hospital after crushing his voice box when he crashed his bicycle.

Michigan’s carfree Mackinac Island will finally get its first speed limit — for bicycles and ebikes.

Police in Troy, New York have some ‘splaining to do, after a man they were chasing drowned in the Hudson River while attempting to flee on his bicycle.

A New Jersey woman faces charges for the drunken crash that killed a 44-year old man when she slammed into his bike while driving on the shoulder of the roadway to pass another car on the right, with her three-year old in the back of the car.

The family of a 65-year old Louisiana man want answers after he was killed in a collision with an off-duty sheriff’s deputy while riding his bicycle at 1:30 am, in a strange neighborhood 20 miles from home — and want to know why he was supposedly riding in the roadway when there was a freshly paved, fully separated bike path right next to it.

 

International

An automotive website examines which carmakers have also made bicycles, like a mid-2000s “Hummer” foldie, for instance.

Cycling Weekly considers whether tossing the booze will make you a better bicyclist.

Velo reports on their favorite bicycles from the recent Eurobike trade show, including a seriously weird gravel bike.

Toronto bicyclists are getting a new protected bike lane on one of the city’s deadliest corridors.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole eight bicycles worth the equivalent of over $33,000 from a Salisbury, England gravel fest.

This is who we share the road with. A British man will spend 17 years behind bars for killing a baby and her aunt when he slammed into their car, minutes after posting a photo showing himself driving 141 mph with a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit; he’ll also face a well-deserved 21-year driving ban once he’s released.

An English website says Bremen, Germany ranks as one of the world’s best cities for bicycling, thanks to visionary leaders who invented the bike lane in the 1970s. Except to quote Gershwin, it ain’t necessarily so.

Berlin is testing a new cycle track built beneath an overhead subway to accommodate future growth. But aren’t subways supposed to be underground?

 

Competitive Cycling

Russia’s Aleksandr Vaslov is out of the Tour de France after breaking his ankle when he veered off the road near the end on Sunday’s stage — shattering his bike in the process — yet somehow finished the stage anyway, despite being clearly disoriented.

Good news from Provo, Utah, where surgeons successfully reattached the right arm of California-based cyclist Ryan Jastrab, after he virtually severed it near the shoulder by catching a metal barricade as he was rounding one of the final turns on the last lap of the Salt Lake Criterium.

Bicycling reports the popular Life Time Crusher in the Tushar gravel race has been cancelled for this year due to wildfires in Utah. This time, you can read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

 

Finally…

You can carry just about anything on a bicycle — even 34 pounds of purloined barbecued brisket. Why settle for a cellphone mount when you can mount a ham radio on it, instead?

And that feeling when the mountain lion that attacked you while you were riding was actually just someone’s angry kitty.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin