Due to another commitment, I won’t be posting a new Morning Links for Tuesday.
But barring any unexpected developments, we’ll be back bright and early Wednesday to catch up on anything we missed.
Like what may or may not have been Southern California’s first bicycling death of the year, because the victim may or may not have been riding a bike.
Either way, SoCal’s killer highway has claimed yet another life.
It’s the last four days of the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Last year, it took a real Chrismukah miracle to top the previous year, with more than 25 donations in the last five days.
We’ll need at least that many this time around just to catch up — let alone set a new record for the 9th year in a row.
So thanks to Steven H and Joshua H (no relation) for their generous support for SoCal’s best source bike news and advocacy.
But time is rapidly running out for this year’s fund drive.
So don’t wait.
Stop what you’re doing, and give now!
………
Seriously, is anyone really surprised that the California Air Resources Board missed their latest self-imposed deadline once again?
Anyone?
Bueller? Bueller?
………
………
Even reporters for the Los Angeles Times question whether Caltrans meager safety “improvements” on PCH will be enough to make a difference.
Writing about Monday’s performative press conference to announce a lousy $4.2 million in safety work for the 21 miles of PCH that snakes along the Pacific Coast — which works out to just $200,000 a mile — they almost immediately called the announcement into question.
While there is a process each project will have to undergo, “this is not a ‘business as usual’ approach,” Omishakin said as cars whizzed past.
After several deadly pedestrian crashes that roiled Malibu and sparked calls for change, business as usual won’t be enough, transportation activists said. Damian Kevitt, founder of Streets Are for Everyone, told The Times the “design of PCH through Malibu is simply and clearly deadly.”
“It needs to be a transformed from a highway where people can do 60 to 80 to even 100 mph through residential [areas] and businesses, with families and cyclists, unprotected, just a couple feet away,” Kevitt said.
Hopefully, Caltrans can demonstrate a little more urgency than the $34.6 million project currently underway to sync red lights along the highway, presumably to make speeding drivers stop for red while the typically non-existent non-speeding drivers on the highway will see greens.
The project was approved seven years ago, but because the highway is under California Department of Transportation jurisdiction, it had to be reviewed by the state.
“The Caltrans review process, while undoubtedly necessary for ensuring regulatory compliance and safety standards, proved to be more cumbersome than anticipated,” said Matt Myerhoff, Malibu’s public information officer.
Gee, you think?
Although red lights are typically synced to smooth traffic flow, rather than control speeds.
Meanwhile, Caltrans pledged to study PCH to determine if it can be designated as a safety corridor, in which fines for speeding can be doubled.
But f the mounting death toll on the highway isn’t prima facie proof of the problem, I don’t know what yet another study will accomplish. Then again, you could quadruple the fines, and it won’t matter if the drivers don’t get caught.
Which points to the sheer stupidity of California’s speed cam pilot program only being allowed in Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach, along with three NorCal cities, while completely ignoring the state’s deadliest corridors.
But still.
Members of Seetoo’s Fix PCH Action Team, including Kevitt, say the seven years it took Caltrans to allow Malibu to begin the signal synchronization project “doesn’t indicate that Caltrans is prioritizing safety at all.”
Collecting and studying the data could mean “years and years more delay before they even decide if they can slow down this highway that is known to be deadly,” Kevitt said.
Chris Wizner, another action team member, told The Times he wondered how many more deaths it would take for Caltrans to slow down PCH.
That’s easy.
The formula has always been N+1.
It will take one more death than we’ve already suffered, no matter how many there have already been.
………
A Santa Barbara cop takes a turn at demonstrating he knows nothing about riding in a peloton, without saying it, as a group of Santa Barbara bicyclists got delayed tickets in the mail for following one another too closely, after one rider went down and took several other riders down with him.
Insult to injury rant:
Group ride Santa Barbara to Ventura & back Nov. 21, a cyclist in the peloton front crashed & took down several of us. EMTs came & took me for a brain scan. I'm fine. Cop pretended to help me as he asked my name etc.I just got a ticket for "following too… pic.twitter.com/qzDoFs9dfa
— Michael Shermer (@michaelshermer) December 20, 2023
Here’s the full text of the tweet.
Insult to injury rant: Group ride Santa Barbara to Ventura & back Nov. 21, a cyclist in the peloton front crashed & took down several of us. EMTs came & took me for a brain scan. I’m fine. Cop pretended to help me as he asked my name etc.
I just got a ticket for “following too close”. In a peloton. Seriously. $235 or contest it in court.
I’m tempted on principle. Would love to confront this cop & ask why he didn’t give me the ticket then & there (others also got tickets in the mail). He probably knows we would have pitched a fit.
Disgraceful. I’m lying there on the ground in paid, bloody & nauseous & this MF cop is writing me up for a traffic violation. No wonder people don’t trust the police. “Protect & Serve”. Bullshit.
Thanks to Tim Rutt for the heads-up.
………
Somehow this one slipped under the radar, as Robert Leone forwards the results of the Universal Postal Union’s 2023 letter writing competition.
Okay, maybe I know why this one slipped under the radar.
Regardless, the UPU asked children to write on the following topic:
“Imagine you are a super hero and your mission is to make all roads around the world safer for children. Write a letter to someone explaining which super powers you would need to achieve your mission.”
The winner, a 13-year old girl from Kenya, requests a simple super power — the ability to write posters that will make drivers slow down, because children are the most helpless road users.
Amen.
………
Thanks to Megan Lynch for forwarding the following video, which includes these key points:
………
‘Tis the season.
A San Diego group is continuing a five decade tradition of giving, by working to build 150 bikes to give to kids on Christmas Day.
A Cedar Rapids, Iowa bike shop turned into Santa’s workshop as volunteers joined staffers to refurbish 50 bikes for kids in need.
An Alabama Baptist church collected more than 300 bikes to give to area kids for Christmas.
The work of Florida’s legendary Jack the Bike Man lives on, as the charity he founded gave 100 bicycles to people in need, despite his death earlier this year.
………
Eureka scrapped plans for a buffered bike lane on Myrtle Street, caving to angry residents who prefer convenient parking to protecting human lives, as long as those lives get around on two wheels instead of four.
No surprise here, as compromises forced on a Brooklyn protected bike lane by people loathe to sacrifice parking or traffic lanes resulted in a project that virtually no one is happy with.
No bias here. A New York councilmember calls for mandatory licensing and registration of ebikes, rhetorically asking “How many actual ebikes do you see stopping at a red light or observing traffic laws?” Just wait until someone tells him about cars and their drivers, which are already registered and licensed, and regularly break traffic laws anyway.
Evidently, verbally abusing and repeatedly swerving a car into a woman riding a bike isn’t illegal anymore, after police in the UK “mistakenly” close the books on a road raging driver.
………
………
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton applauds yesterday’s deep dive on dooring in the Los Angeles Times.
Metro will offer free bus and train rides on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, along with free Metro Bike Share for the first half hour from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day.
A man was arrested in Santa Ana Saturday after walking out of an Irvine Walmart with a new beach cruiser. Seriously, if you’re going to steal a bike, at least steal a better one.
Streetsblog zeros in on San Diego’s new Complete Streets policy, examining how advocates pushed for and won a better approach to street design.
A local San Francisco website says sales data doesn’t back up claims from merchants along Valencia Street that the new centerline bike lane has killed their business, showing just a 6% drop in retail sales during construction of the bike lanes. Although to be fair, a 6% drop can mean the difference between profit and loss for some businesses, but it’s a far cry from what they claimed.
At the same time, San Francisco website Underscore_SF says the controversial centerline bike lane was never going to work, and San Francisco should move the bike lanes to a more traditional curbside configuration.
GCN offers six top tips for descending on a road bike.
REI’s second-gen e-cargo bike is on sale for its lowest price ever; CNN called it the year’s best ebike, cargo or otherwise. At less than $1140, you could easily buy one with California’s ebike voucher program, and have change left over — if the voucher program ever actually launches.
More churn in the ebike world, as Harley-Davidson sold its Serial 1 ebike division to Florida ebike maker LEV Manufacturing.
Not surprisingly, bike riders in Ashland, Oregon support plans to install more bike parking in the public right-of-way.
A pair of alleged bike burglars face charges for breaking into Lance Armstrong’s storage unit — yes, that Lance Armstrong — and stealing four complete bicycles and a couple frames valued at $105,000; it’s not clear if any of the bikes were recovered.
A Texas man will face two counts of criminally negligent homicide for killing a married couple as they rode their bikes this past June; he was allegedly texting when he hit their bikes, which explains why he says he never saw them.
More on the bizarre ruling from the Illinois Supreme Court that says cities aren’t liable for injuries to bike riders due to bad pavement because streets without bike lanes aren’t intended for bicycles.
Inmates in a New Hampshire county jail are learning to repair bicycles, working towards their master bike technician certification while serving their time. Which should provide a nice incentive to commit another crime if they get released before earning their certification.
A Long Island woman faces a host of charges, including 2nd degree assault and disabling an Interlock device, for speeding through a parking lot where a triathlon was being held and slamming into a competitor riding his bike, leaving the victim with a traumatic brain injury and cervical spine fracture.
Toronto’s paramedic’s union said a controversial protected bike lane cost an ambulance crew 30 seconds getting through an intersection because drivers couldn’t get out of their way. Maybe someone should tell them those little car-tickler plastic posts are designed to bend, so you can drive right over them.
Sad news from the UK, where popular industry pro Nils Amelinckx died after a lengthy battle with stage four bowel cancer; Amelinckx founded the nonprofit Rider Resilience to promote the use of bicycles as medicine, as well as the bicycling wing of gear maker Lyon Equipment. He was just 36.
Grieving British parents called for mandatory speed limiters on all motor vehicles, after a speeding driver climbed the curbed and killed their 14-year old daughter as she rode in a separated bike lane.
Bankrupt Dutch ebike maker VanMoof intends to rise Phoenix-like from the ashes with plans for a new e-scooter.
The BBC examines how the Finnish coastal city of Oulu became the winter bicycling capital of the world, despite its location just 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
The Vuelta released its course for next year, starting and ending with time trials, and “savage” climbing in between.
https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1737208276511588374?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1737208276511588374%7Ctwgr%5Efd11a704aa7aaf06f14e2637bcad18fa3438063b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-20-december-2023-305753
Aquaman is one of us. This is what it would look like if Tony the Tiger sponsored a cycling team.
And your next e-cargo bike could haul a baby grand piano.
Or a grown-up one, even.
………
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
Just 5 days left in the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Only one person donated yesterday. So thanks to Jeff S for his generous support to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!
We’ve fallen behind last year’s record pace, so we’ve got some ground to make up in order to top the previous year for the 9th year in a row.
So don’t wait — give now!
………
………
………
Call it much ado about nothing.
Caltrans made a big deal yesterday about plans to spend a whole $4.2 million to improve safety along a 21-mile stretch of PCH in Malibu, which works out to a measly $200,000 per mile.
Not exactly the major investment they made it out to be.
According to LAist, those improvements include,
None of which is likely to save a single life on Southern California’s killer highway.
Here’s how local radio station 99.1 KBUU, aka RadioMalibu.net, described the chest-beating news conference.
Caltrans and the state of California held a major media event on Malibu Monday, but a city clamoring for changes to Pacific Coast Highway was left empty handed.
The state Transportation Secretary travelled from Sacramento, but did not have any new traffic calming plans to disclose.
Toks Milshakin repeated the list of quick fixes already disclosed by Caltrans: a $4.2 million set of new lane striping, speed limit signage, and other small safety projects.
The news conference produced the news that the state will not be able to immediately lower the speed limit on any stretch of PCH.
No new speed study has been conducted, or will be conducted soon.
No change in the speed limit.
No changes in design.
Caltrans safety manager Lee Haber said right now, that the state cannot lower the speed limits on PCH.
And that’s just the beginning of a scathing report from the local media, which has been covering the mounting toll on the deadly highway for more than two decades.
Along with local safety advocates, who have been fighting for changes just as long.
Then there was this response, after Malibu Mayor Steve Uhring lauded Caltrans for taking time out to listen to city officials, saying he feels very confident they made some big strides yesterday.
If those strides resulted in any permanent or temporary changes, none were announced Monday.
Instead, officials stuck to the existing design and operation of the highway.
State law requires that the speed limit be computed based on the 85th percentile speed … the speed travelled by 85 percent of the cars.
PCH was designed 70 years ago with lane widths and curves to accommodate 55 mile per hour traffic … and study after study proves traffic moves at a design speed … not a speed limit.
Never mind that the urgently promised safety study necessary to reduce those excessive speeds, or do much of anything else, won’t be complete until 2025.
Seriously, take a few minutes to read the whole thing.
Because the authors clearly and concisely shred all the happy talk and lauding news reports resulting from the announcement of the state’s meager investment in improving safety on the highway, concluding,
…it is .. after all … a state highway.
One that is not going to see any major changes … anytime soon … other than 4 point 2 million dollars worth of paint and new signs.
Ouch.
Thanks to Hans Laetz for the heads-up.
………
The Los Angeles Times takes a look at the problem of dooring and what to do to prevent it.
The paper views it through the lens of artist Yasmine Nasser Diaz, the widow of Hollywood producer Robert George, who was killed in October when a motorist opened their car door at Fountain and Edgemont in East Hollywood, knocking him into the path of another car.
“Dooring” and “doored,” colloquialisms among bicyclists, refer to a collision caused by a driver or passenger opening a car door into an oncoming cyclist. For some cyclists, such as Diaz, it is among their greatest fears. But collisions such as these, they say, can be prevented with greater awareness and better infrastructure.
Developing bike infrastructure in Los Angeles is complicated by logistics and competing interests. Bicyclists say L.A.’s car-centric culture hinders progress and argue that the city favors the comfort of drivers.
Yeah, you could say that.
The story goes on to cite Joshua Cohen, of BikinginLA sponsor Cohen Law Partners.
In California, motorists are mandated to not open a door “unless it is reasonably safe to do so and can be done without interfering with the movement of such traffic,” according to the state vehicle code…
But when car doors do collide with cyclists, the fallout can range from a few bumps and bruises to serious damage. Joshua Cohen, a personal injury attorney, said he’s dealt with cases in which cyclists had severed fingers, as well as back, neck and head injuries.
“The edge of the car door where it strikes the human body — generally, if you think about the physics of that happening — it’s almost like someone striking it with a sword because the leading edge of the car door is basically a thin piece of metal,” Cohen said.
Despite that, the law is rarely prosecuted.
A spokesperson with the LAPD says arrests are unlikely to be made unless police can prove malicious intent.
Otherwise, it’s just another oopsie — even though motorists are always at fault in a dooring, because they have the responsibility to prevent it.
The decade-plus I’ve spent tracking SoCal bike deaths tells us that dooring is rarely fatal. Which is good, because it’s one of the most common forms of bike crashes — despite the LAPD stats, which show only two reported doorings this year.
Presumably, one of those is the one that killed George.
………
Don’t let the door hit it on the way out.
End of an era – the new edition of MUTCD no longer has "share the road." Too many people misunderstood it as telling bikes to squeeze off into the gutter so drivers could pass without changing lanes.
The replacement is a mouthful, but much clearer legally. pic.twitter.com/AZPUgMF6gc
— Josh Putnam (@j_putnam) December 20, 2023
………
‘Tis the season.
The San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles surprised over 100 students at a Boyle Heights elementary school with new bicycles for the holidays.
An organization founded by a group of Sacramento high school students when they were just in elementary school is asking readers of the local paper for $5,000 in funding, after donating over 500 bicycles to kids in need over the past ten years.
Bicyclists in the Bosnian city of Mostar donned their finest Santa suits and rode through the city handing out candy to kids, to celebrate the holidays.
………
………
Streetsblog visits the new Boyle Heights’ Myers/Mission Roundabout connected to the 6th Street Viaduct, along with short bikeway segments on Myers Street and Mission Road.
A new bike law going into effect January 1st somehow slipped under the radar, requiring bike riders to obey bicycle traffic control devices when they differ from other traffic signals.
An op-ed from a representative for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition says despite the usual parking controversies, both bicyclists and small business owners really just want a more vibrant city.
San Francisco advocates warn tragedy is inevitable on one of the city’s Slow Streets, which is now slow in name only.
Vallejo is evicting residents of a homeless encampment just before the holidays, so the city can begin a $10 million project to rebuild the bike path they’ve been living next to.
Survivors of the Goodyear, Arizona crash that killed two bike riders and injured 19 others are still waiting for justice ten months later, after the county attorney passed the buck case back to the city attorney.
She gets it. A letter writer in St. George, Utah makes a detailed case that better bicycle infrastructure will improve safety for everyone.
The trial for the two Las Vegas teens accused of intentionally running down and killing former Bell CA police chief Andy Probst was pushed back to next fall, while their attorney attacked the entire grand jury system, and blamed mental, physical and emotional problems for their inappropriate courtroom behavior.
Cincinnati’s bikeshare system will be out of commission until at least early spring, as it undergoes “significant staff reductions.”
Megan Lynch forwards news that a bill in the New Jersey legislature would require low-speed ebikes and e-scooters — not the high speed, throttle-controlled ebikes — to be registered with the DMV and carry liability insurance, passing the Budget and Appropriations Committee on a 4-0 vote. Even though ebikes don’t seem to be what’s killing people on the state’s streets.
Sad news from Atlanta, where a leader of a local winter bicycling league was killed by a driver while on a ride with the group.
Cycling Weekly offers advice on how to save money — and the planet — by buying a secondhand bike instead of a new one, without suffering buyer’s regret.
A London website says don’t ride your bike through the Tooting neighborhood, where workers see bicycle collisions on a near daily basis. Maybe it would help if drivers would do a little less tooting and more driving.
A speeding English driver was sentenced to nearly five years behind bars for killing a 14-year old girl as she rode her bike on the sidewalk.
A new British study confirms what most of us already know, that drivers who also ride bikes, or at least understand where bike riders are supposed to position themselves on the streets, are less likely to blame the person on the bike for a close pass.
Taiwan is introducing 16 new bicycle tour routes connecting 13 national scenic areas, for your next trip to the island. You know, before China tries to take it over.
No surprise here, as world champ Mathieu van der Poel returned to ‘cross competition, and immediately climbed to the top of the podium.
That feeling when the kid in the store bicycle display could use a hand. Or when the local bike path goes to the dogs.
And that feeling when you emulate your hero by crashing and burning, just like the real Evel Knievel.
………
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
Just 6 days left in the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Sadly, no one donated yesterday to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.
So don’t let that happen again! Take just a moment and give now!
………
………
………
We made the national news, for all the wrong reasons.
CNN reported on LA County’s killer highway, the four Pepperdine students killed by a speeding driver earlier this year, and the 58 people killed along PCH in Malibu in just the last 13 years.
“I should have been there and I usually would be there,” (Pepperdine senior Bridget) Thompson said. “I can just picture them in the car on the way there. I know they were listening to music and I know they were singing along.”
The girls parked and were walking along the Pacific Coast Highway when prosecutors say a BMW going 104 miles per hour slammed into several parked cars before hitting and killing Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams – all Pepperdine seniors…
Thompson is now among those demanding safety changes along the iconic Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. She helped dedicate a memorial on the scenic highway, which stretches the California coastline, featuring 58 white tires — one for each of the lives lost on the road in Malibu since 2010.
It’s a heartbreaking story, but a necessary one.
Maybe a little national humiliation is what we need to finally get some long-needed changes made.
Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.
………
The Illinois Supreme Court reaffirmed a horrific ruling that officially makes bike riders 2nd class citizens on the streets.
The court ruled that cities aren’t responsible for injuries to bike riders from poorly maintained roads that don’t have bicycle infrastructure, reasoning that bicycles are allowed to use such roadways, but aren’t the intended users.
Apparently, drivers are.
Not only does the ruling absolve cities of responsibility to maintain safe streets, it also provides a disincentive to build the infrastructure that would make them liable.
And makes it clear that we’re nothing more than guests anywhere else.
………
More information on the Colorado hit-and-run crash we mentioned yesterday.
The driver of one Ford Mustang was passing another on a sweeping mountain curve, and slammed headfirst into three bicyclists traveling in the opposite direction.
The driver fled the scene, then he and his passenger abandoned the car a short distance later with the airbags deployed. The driver of the other car attempted to give chase after checking on the victims, but crashed into a guardrail.
It seems almost miraculous that only one of the victims was seriously injured. A second rider suffered major road rash after flying over the car, while the third rode into a ditch to avoid the crash.
………
Portland finished ripping out a bike lane that had allegedly been installed by mistake, after the initial work to remove it had been halted by protestors blocking the trucks.
They get it. Velo says ebike licenses won’t make the streets any safer, and rider regulation won’t stop the 7,500 pedestrians killed by cars each year.
………
………
Yay, us. Los Angeles has topped both 300 murders and 300 deaths from traffic violence for the second year in a row.
No word yet on whether West Hollywood adopted its Vision Zero plan last night.
Santa Monica is considering a ballot measure for next November to tax parking garages to pay for transportation projects, including Vision Zero.
Redondo Beach has completed work on its portion of the new Diamond Street Bike and Pedestrian Path, after Torrance bailed on building its part of the pathway connecting the two cities.
Sad news from San Jose, where the Bay Area’s Mr. Roadshow died Sunday after a long battle with a degenerative muscle and nerve disease; prior to the paper’s draconian paywall, I often linked to his stories when he got it right, or to criticize when he missed the mark. Gary Richards was 72.
A Streetsblog op-ed says the contentious centerline protected bike lane on San Francisco’s Valencia Street could lead to a more pedestrianized, safer street that allows commerce to flourish — if cooler heads prevail, which seems unlikely.
Electrek lists their most popular ebike news stories of 2023.
Police in Goodyear, Arizona recommended that the driver who plowed into a group bike ride, injuring 19 people and killing two, face just eight misdemeanor charges after the local DA had rejected the case.
A Michigan man faces a murder charge for fatally stabbing another man in a fight that began over a bicycle. We’ve said it before — no bike is worth a human life. Just walk away.
He’s a Harvard administrator and amateur bike mechanic.
A man in the Bronx is still waiting for the ebike he ordered from Amazon, which was never delivered over a month later.
A kindhearted former Trek staffer is collecting and refurbishing bicycles to donate to people in Ghana and New Jersey, as well as homeless people in California.
An Alabama district court judge gave her former bailiff, now a college president, the new ebike she won in a raffle, to replace the bike that was stolen on his first day working for her.
‘Tis the season. Momentum offers a “Bikemas” guide to the best-selling bicycling gifts this holiday season.
A Canadian bike lawyer provides a guide to avoid getting doored, and what to do if you do.
Britain’s Bike Project is changing lives by donating refurbished bicycles to refugees.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is planning to charge owners of massive SUVs triple the normal parking fee in the central city, and double in other parts of the city in an effort to tax them off the streets.
Sad news from Swaziland, where award-winning travel photographer Steve Walton died after breaking his back in a fall off a narrow footbridge while riding his bike during an October safari; he was 69.
Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — a “magical ride” island hopping over bridges in the Indonesian city of Batam.
Top triathletes are renting bikes to compete in the world championships, after the financial failure of a shipping company left many riders rides in limbo.
Orange Factory Racing is pulling out of mountain biking after 30 years.
Pez Cycling News considers what the shutdown of GCN+ and the shift of bike racing coverage to Max — formerly HBO — will mean for US cycling fans.
When you’re riding your bike despite several outstanding warrants, put a damn light on it, already. Your next tandem ebike could have three wheels — all in a straight line.
And your next bike trailer could be amphibious.
Even if your bike isn’t.
………
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
It’s not just pickups and SUVs.
While the risk of high-profile vehicles is well documented, a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows even flat-front, medium–height vehicles present a higher risk of pedestrian fatalities compared with similarly-sized cars with low or sloped front ends.
And guess what the current automotive style trend is.
According to the study, vehicles measuring just 30 to 40 inches from the street to the top of the hood posed a 25% greater risk of pedestrian deaths. And presumably, the same or greater risk to people on bicycles.
According to Streetsblog,
Of course, advocates have long known that high and mighty SUVs and pickup trucks are a significant factor in the 80-percent increase in pedestrian deaths on U.S. roads over the last 14 years. High front ends are associated with higher risk of deadly head and thorax injuries, and studies show vulnerable road users are more likely to be thrown under the wheels of an SUV and sustain even more extensive injuries, rather than being being pushed onto the hood or the roof.
The new study reveals, though, that even cars that Americans think of as “medium sized” aren’t necessarily safe, either. Nearly 35 percent of U.S. vehicles are now designed with a blunt — and significantly more deadly — front end, the study authors said, citing a recent re-design of the Ford Mustang…
“Over the past 30 years, the average U.S. passenger vehicle has gotten about four inches wider, 10 inches longer, eight inches taller and 1,000 pounds heavier,” the Insurance Institute added. “Many vehicles are more than 40 inches tall at the leading edge of the hood.”
And they wonder why traffic deaths have been going up every year.
As long as federal regulations continue to allow the seemingly endless motor vehicle size creep — and allow car makers to literally design their vehicles to kill anyone not safely ensconced in a couple tons of glass and steel — that’s not going to change.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.
………
Sometimes, though, traffic violence has less to do with the size and shape of the vehicle than the design of the roadway.
And the actions of the driver.
Like on PCH in Malibu, where a driver traveling in excess of 100 mph killed four Pepperdine University students just standing on the side of the roadway, as they made their way to a fraternity party.
Yesterday afternoon, traffic safety nonprofit Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, installed four white ghost tires where they lost their lives.
Or rather, where they were brutally murdered.
The memorials are similar to ghost bikes, to remember those who have been killed by speeding drivers.
But sharing responsibility with their alleged killer are the officials who have done little or nothing to correct the single deadliest surface street in LA County.
Here’s how SAFE put it in their press release.
Any single loss of a loved one and community member due to a preventable traffic collision is tragic. The loss of four in one incident is horrific, but these preventable collisions are made worse by the fact that the short stretch of PCH that travels through residential and business areas of Malibu has been known for decades as a dangerous road with vehicles regularly doing 60-80 MPH and sometimes well over 100.
Since 2010 there have been 58 fatalities (including the four young women just killed) and about 2500 individuals injured. The single largest factor in these crashes is reckless speeding. (Source LA County Sheriff’s Dept and TIMS) For decades the community of Malibu, including various family members of those who have been killed and city officials, has asked Caltrans (the government agency responsible for PCH) to slow down PCH and re-engineer it. Little has been done.
In 2015 the California Office of Traffic Safety commissioned a study of PCH through Pacific Palisades and Malibu called the PCH Pedestrian Safety Project. In that report, there were 130 improvements recommended for the section of PCH in Malibu, including reducing the speed limit of PCH through the most densely populated areas. In the eight years since that report, Caltrans has implemented 6 of the recommendations (the City of Malibu has implemented additional recommendations with Caltrans approval) and none of the most effective recommendations have been accomplished. There is still a 45 MPH speed limit – too fast for the road conditions through Malibu. Drivers still often drive 60+ MPH through this built-up, high-pedestrian area, because there are few stop lights, and traffic calming measures are lacking.
“It’s been eight years since the 2015 safety recommendations were issued. Caltrans has done virtually nothing since then to reduce unsafe driving on PCH in Malibu. EIGHT YEARS! What else has Caltrans been doing over that time that is more important than stopping people being killed at this rate on such a short stretch of road?” – Barry Stewart (Father of Peyton Stewart, killed along with her three friends by a speeding driver on PCH.)
The question is how many more people will have to die before someone, anyone, finally does something to fix the problem.
Because the modest tinkering around the edges that passes for safety improvements on LA’s killer highway clearly haven’t done anything to save lives.
And if the deaths of four innocent young women isn’t enough to convince state, county and local officials to do something, I don’t know what will.
………
Speaking of which, the annual World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is this Sunday.
Maybe someday, carmakers will finally try to design their vehicles to make fewer victims to remember, and traffic engineers and elected officials will build roads that don’t contribute to the problem.
Which is what Vision Zero is all about.
……..
‘Tis the season.
More bike-centric holiday gift guides, from Bike Rumor, Road.cc and Velo.
Meanwhile, the US Army’s South Korean base Camp Humphreys distributed 80 refurbished bicycles for Veterans Day, ensuring that junior-enlisted soldiers had first choice.
……..
Nope, no bias here. A former Baltimore city council president decried a recent road diet and bike lanes, saying “There are elitist, fanatical people who believe they want to improve the world by getting rid of cars and the way they do it is by narrowing every street that they can, even if it has a negative effect on the city.” Never mind that lane reductions and bike lanes have been repeatedly shown to improve safety for everyone, and often improve traffic flow while increasing sales for local businesses. But sure, just keep hating on people working to make positive changes on our streets. Schmuck.
No bias here, either. After police ignored a sideswipe hit-and-run by a motor scooter rider that knocked a London man famed for bicycling with his cat off his bike, telling him only that he should wear a helmet, the victim has received thousands of abusive messages on social media — going so far as telling him to kill himself — and been reported to the SPCA for animal abuse.
………
Yes, please. CD5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky talked with UCLA’s Daily Bruin student newspaper about her goals for Westwood, including more bus and bike lanes to build more livable communities.
Alhambra’s newly revealed active transportation plan calls for more than 50 miles of new bike lanes, as well as several new pedestrian priority zones. Let’s just hope they follow through. Because, as we’ve learned the hard way here in Los Angeles, a mobility plan is only as good as the city’s commitment to it.
Santa Monica cops will be conducting another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation today, ticketing anyone committing a traffic violation that could put bike riders or pedestrians at risk. So if you haven’t left for your ride yet, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.
Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry examines the new Calbike survey showing most respondents are afraid to walk or bike on roadways controlled by Caltrans, four years after Governor Newsom vetoed a bill that would have mandated Complete Streets because, in his words, “Caltrans was already doing that.” Apparently not.
The new owner of the 50-year old Leucadia Cyclery is fighting to stay in business, after the owners of the building refused to extend the lease due to “water leaks, electrical problems and its overall vulnerability as high-risk unreinforced masonry.”
It’s been a rough few days in Kern County, where a man riding a bicycle was killed by a driver in Bakersfield yesterday afternoon, while a 21-year old woman was arrested for the hit-and-run that killed a bike-riding woman in Wasco on Sunday.
In better Kern County news, a new bike lane is slated to open in Tehachapi this month.
San Francisco state Assemblymember Phil Ting writes about securing more than $2 million for bicycling programs in the city, including $1.2 million for safety improvements to Arguello Blvd between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, where champion cyclist Ethan Boyes was killed earlier this year. Maybe someday, a Los Angeles-area legislator will secure funding to fix the site where someone, anyone, was killed on our streets.
Seattle is nearing completion on a $40 million curb-protected bike lane connecting the Capitol Hill neighborhood with downtown, although design compromises — like rerouting it onto a sidewalk and around light post to avoid inconveniencing drivers — could reduce its effectiveness.
Advocates in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown are working to turn the site of the former college football stadium where I used to smuggle rum inside my tuba on game days into a massive 60 to 80 acre world class bike park. I mean, the statute of limitations for that is over, right?
About damn time. A new Chicago ordinance requires the city to study any fatal crashes to determine the cause, and report all fatal crashes to the public. Now let’s get them to do something like that here. Thanks to Bike Lane Uprising® for the heads-up.
No bias here. After a 16-year old Chicago boy was killed in a collision while riding his bike, the only mention that the truck that hit him even had a driver was a brief note that the driver was uninjured.
That’s more like it. A 27-year old Michigan man will spend between 3.6 and 15 years behind bars, less four days for time served, for the drunken hit-and-run that killed a 30-year old man riding a bicycle; he was nearly three times the legal alcohol limit when he fled the scene, dragging the victim nearly a mile and a half under his van.
Officials in New York called on retailers and food delivery companies to do more to halt the proliferation of dangerous ebike and e-scooter batteries, after three people were killed in a fire blamed on a lithium ion scooter battery.
A coalition of safe streets and immigrant rights advocates are pushing back against a New York City proposal that would require registration and licensing for ebikes, arguing that it would be dangerous and expensive, and wouldn’t make the streets any safer.
An Emmy-winning Irish filmmaker and photographer’s bike was found at a beach in Queens, after he vanished without a trace last week,
There’s a special place in hell for the New Jersey man accused of robbing a group of kids at gunpoint when they met him to buy a bicycle he’d posted online.
Sad news from Philadelphia, where the local bicycle coalition remembers a former staffer who was killed by a driver while leading a long-distance LGBTQ + BIPOC bikepacking trip.
Momentum offers a guide to securely storing your cargo bike or ebike.
A writer for Bike Magazine takes a five day bikepacking trip through the Alps, discussing all the gear they brought, as well as the gear they didn’t need.
E-bikesharing services are quickly replacing the popular e-scooters on the streets of Seoul, South Korea.
Velo remembers the best moments of the 2023 cycling season.
The Tour de France will stay home in 2025, with the Grand Départ set for Lille in northern France.
$70,000 worth of bicycles belonging to competitors in September’s triathlon World Championship race in Pontevedra, Spain are being held hostage by a subcontractor for the shipping company, which insists they are owed $300,000 in unpaid invoices. However, the roughly 180 people whose bikes they’re holding aren’t the ones who allegedly stiffed them.
When you’re carrying $6,600 worth of hot electronic gear on your bike, put a damn light on it, already. And at last, a bicycle with a glove box.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
Thank God October is over.
Now that the deadliest month in memory is finally over, let’s put the whole damn thing behind us and start fresh with a new month.
Although maybe we can observe today’s Dia de los Muertos by remembering those who have needlessly lost their lives just because they rode a bicycle.
And recommit ourselves to ensuring it doesn’t happen again.
………
They get it.
The Los Angeles Times calls for a total makeover of PCH through Malibu, arguing that piecemeal improvements aren’t enough to save lives.
While state and local officials can and should take immediate action to make the road safer, such as putting in more traffic lights and getting permission to install automated speed enforcement cameras, it’s also time to rethink the configuration of PCH through Malibu. It’s a state highway that runs through the middle of the community. The road now caters to commuters and pass-through traffic. It could be redesigned to function as a local road with more sidewalks, traffic signals, bike lanes and crosswalks that force motorists to slow down and drive as though they’re in a city — because they are.
A road redesign won’t be easy. Sections of PCH through Malibu are squeezed between mountains and the ocean, leaving little room to add sidewalks or protected bike lanes without removing a traffic lane or parking or buying expensive property for widening. And it certainly wouldn’t be without controversy, given how many people rely on PCH for different needs. It’s a commuting route, a residential neighborhood, a business district and a destination for beachgoers.
It’s definitely worth reading the whole thing.
Because Los Angeles County’s killer highway is going to keep taking innocent lives until we make some major changes.
……..
Jury selection began Monday in the murder trial of 35-year old Kaitlin Armstrong, who faces up to 99 years behind bars for fatally shooting rising gravel champ Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas last year.
Armstrong was arrested in Costa Rica after she allegedly fled the country to avoid prosecution, living under an assumed name as a yoga instructor, dying her formerly red hair, and reportedly having plastic surgery to change her appearance.
Prosecutors accuse Armstrong of killing Wilson for being the other woman in a perceived love triangle for the affections of pro cyclist Colin Strickland.
Armstrong added to the media’s fascination with the case by attempting to escape when she was taken to a doctor’s appointment last month, and trying in vain to climb a fence despite being handcuffed.
You can read all about it in the —
……..
A writer for The LA Times experiences the surrealism of biking on a car-free 110 Freeway during Sunday’s Arroyo Fest, as the paper offers photos from the event.
Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers his own photos of the joyful event.
………
Dr. Grace Peng provides a powerful thread on the absurd limits placed on bike-riding kids in the South Bay.
Click on the posts to read the full thread on Twitter/X.
Arterial roads are graded for trucks, so they have gentler grades suitable for acoustic bikes. But kids are shunted off them to steeper side streets. As TowWhee explains, kids aren't out of shape. They have a lower strength to weight ratio to their bikes. https://t.co/bD8JcMnRYf pic.twitter.com/lSAIyUyVx6
— Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng) October 30, 2023
………
The EPA wants to see your video documenting your experience with any form of EVs, ranging from from electric scooters to electric school buses.
Which means you could win up to $3,000 just for telling them about what it’s like to ride an ebike.
Or an e-scooter.
Or an electric skateboard or hoverboard.
Thanks to Andre Villasenor for the heads-up.
………
London’s Daily Mail insists there’s still no law to deal with reckless bicyclists who kill, after a bike rider who killed a pedestrian got out of jail after 18 months; meanwhile, the victim’s husband says the government is “utterly cowed by the cycling lobby. Although that jail term would seem to suggest that there is, in fact, a law to prosecute reckless bike riders. Never mind that he got more time than most killer drivers do.
Life is cheap in the UK, where a road-raging woman walked without a day behind bars for deliberately ramming a bike rider in a dispute over a close pass; the victim described it as a hate attack that trashed his $9,700 bike.
A Scottish bike advocacy group called on delivery companies to make sure the ebikes their riders are using are legal and roadworthy, after a bicyclist was terrified following a collision with delivery bicyclist riding salmon in a bike lane. Even though that has absolutely nothing to do with the crash.
A road-raging British bike rider admitted punching a driver in a dispute over a close pass last month, arguing that he was clipped by the driver’s mirror. Violence is never the answer, no matter how justified it may seem in the moment.
………
The L.A. Bureau of Engineering has released a plan for the 25-year, $4.8 billion makeover of the massive Sepulveda Basin in the San Fernando Valley, which currently serves as both a recreation area and a flood control basin.
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton visits the new protected bikeway along Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge.
The California Transportation Commission is holding a public meeting at 1 pm today, both online and in-person, to gather input on the state’s Interregional Transportation Improvement Program, which includes more bike and train projects, as well as flushing more money down the induced-demand toilet for highway projects; they’ll hold another meeting November 8th.
Irvine cops wasted no time busting a bike thief who stole a bicycle belonging to the city.
San Diego planning officials are proposing more housing, greater density, more bike lanes and less parking for the city’s Hillcrest neighborhood; a local city council candidate somehow thinks that’s a bad thing.
A 41-year old woman suffered a broken pelvis when a driver struck her bike in San Diego’s Point Loma neighborhood; police blamed the victim, saying she was riding with no lights and wearing dark clothing. Because evidently, cars down there don’t have lights that could illuminate someone directly in front of them.
Santa Barbara has reached an agreement over the design of the proposed the Modoc Road Multi-Use Path, which will now require the removal of fewer trees, and less encroachment on an existing preserve.
Humans and zombies turned out for the pre-Halloween opening of a new Davis pump track. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the tip.
Men’s Health rates the best ebike foldies.
Bicycling rates the best road bike tires for training and race day. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.
Government Technology says build the bike lanes, and delivery cargo e-bikes will quickly follow. Hopefully in the right direction.
A new study considers how to best communicate the dangers faced by vulnerable road users to mitigate dangerous behavior. Thanks to Gabrielle Lesard for the link.
CNN says cities are cracking down on free parking to free up valuable curb space.
An Alaska railroad will consider leasing a plot of land for a bike path, after failing in its efforts to block it.
The bicycling community will lose its leading Congressional advocate, as Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer announced he won’t seek re-election next year, after 17 years in the House; Bike Portland reports he’s not concerned with his legacy. Although passage of his federal ebike rebate bill would be a good way to cement it.
“Intense” Las Vegas police bodycam video shows the family of fallen bicyclist and former Bell, California police chief Andreas “Andy” Probst arrive at the site of the intentional hit-and-run that killed him; they came the same time the ambulance did, after Probst’s phone alerted them to the crash.
A Texas city installs pretty artistic bike racks, including one that looks like a giant children’s toy. Because everyone knows the best bike racks are the ones no one uses because they don’t look like bike racks.
Jail inmates in an Arkansas city will take part in a program to learn how to repair bikes, which will be given away to people in need.
Republican Wisconsin state legislators will hold hearings on a pair of proposed bills to ban Madison’s annual World Naked Bike Ride, after becoming incensed that parents allowed their child to participate. Because children should clearly be shielded from nasty things like protesting carbon-based fuels and the climate emergency.
Vermont is discussing long-range plans to build a bicycle corridor along the state’s eatern seaboard, stretching nearly 200 miles from Massachusetts to Quebec.
Rhode Island is encouraging residents to apply for the state ebike rebate program, which pays up to $350 for the purchase of an ebike, or $750 for low-income residents. Meanwhile, California’s ebike rebate program continues to be nothing but vaporware after more than two years.
This is who we share the road with. A New York drunk driver allegedly caused a multi-car crash that injured eight people Sunday, after previously serving six years for the hit-and-run crash that killed a woman riding a bicycle. Just one more example of officials allowing a deadly driver back on the road, as well as argument for why hit-and-run drivers should lose their licenses permanently.
A North Carolina bike rider was shot multiple times by bikejackers after he resisted the robbery attempt; fortunately, his wounds aren’t life-threatening, and he was able to keep his bike. Yet another reminder that no bike is worth your life. Just let them take it, and live to ride another day.
Montreal is reinstalling a bike lane three years after it was ripped out due to opposition from local residents,
A 77-year old British bike rider is dead because a stoned driver was in a hurry to get home from a friend’s barbecue.
Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website lists nine commuting mistakes you should avoid, like riding in jeans or secretly racing strangers.
Jakarta, Indonesia plans to improve the city’s bike lanes, even after cutting the budget by 80% in the face of local resistance.
A writer rediscovers the charms of Shanghai by riding a bike through the city’s neighborhoods in the autumn breeze, while an American tourist is shocked to see a $15,000 Pinarello left unattended, and unmolested, on the street.
Cyclists called it a dark day for hill climbing when the winning competitor in the British championship crossed the finish line using disc brakes. But at least he wasn’t on an ebike.
American Vuelta champ Sepp Kuss and Italian cyclist Giulio Ciccone question the need for a new Saudi-backed Cycling Champions League composed of only the top teams.
Velo describes the tension on the Jumbo-Visma team bus, as Kuss fended off cycling superstars Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard to claim the victory.
A third man has been convicted in the knifepoint robbery of sprinter Mark Cavendish and his wife, including the theft of watches worth $850,000.
Your next bicycle could be an Aston Martin. Probably not the best idea to try to reclaim your stolen bike from the cops until you clear up those outstanding warrants.
And nothing like leading police in a slow speed chase in a stolen fork lift on the local bike path. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
Go ahead and call it murder.
Prosecutors are.
Felipe Avalos pled not guilty Friday, after he was formerly charged with murder and hit-and-run driving resulting in death or serious injury in the gruesome death of 65-year old bike rider Francisco Gonzalez in Willowbrook last Tuesday.
The 66-year old driver fled the scene with Gonzalez still trapped under his van, as Avalos twisted and turned for nearly a mile in his efforts to escape, before Gonzalez’ body was finally dislodged in Compton.
The murder charge suggests investigators were able to confirm witness accusations that the crash was intentional. Or maybe the DA’s office just decided that dragging a man’s body for almost a mile demonstrated intent.
Avalos will be due back in court on November 9th to set a trial date, although that date is subject to change.
………
Evidently, a good time was had by all.
Sunday’s Arroyo Fest gave LA County residents a rare chance to take to a local freeway without having to encase themselves in a couple tons of glass and steel. Or having to dodge the usual overly aggressive, speeding, distracted or otherwise generally reckless drivers.
That is, when the crush of cars doesn’t turn it into a parking lot.
In fact, it was the first time in 20 years that the II0 Freeway had been closed to cars, and open to everyone else for what the Los Angeles Times termed “four glorious hours.”
For four glorious hours, cyclists and pedestrians had a chance to safely explore six miles of the 110 Freeway between Los Angeles and Pasadena, a stretch of roadway that opened in 1940 and typically carries more 100,000 daily motorists who brave its winding turns and scary entrance ramps.
Aside from events such as Sunday’s 626 Golden Streets ArroyoFest and other bike celebrations, such as CicLAvia, cycling in L.A. County is not for the faint of heart. The road network was built for automobiles. Bicyclists are often left to vie for space alongside cars on congested, poorly maintained streets. Fatal bike crashes are an intractable problem in the county, and efforts to build dedicated bike lanes have been spotty…
This was the reality for the cyclists who joined the crowd of thousands in Northeast L.A. on Sunday…
The paper goes on to talk to a number of bicyclists who participated in the event about what they love about bicycling in greater Los Angeles, and what they’d change about it.
Which might have been the wrong way to frame the question, since the freeway closure likely brought out a number of people who would normally be reluctant to ride on city streets.
Meanwhile, the Pasadena Star-News reported tens of thousands of people turned out to enjoy the all-too brief opportunity.
And Los Angeles Magazine says people “walked, ran, biked, skateboarded, and even rode on horseback to celebrate the second iteration of this rare community event.”
And during the event (about 10:30am), the streets around were all pretty lightly trafficked. If you needed to drive somewhere, wasn’t a big deal to avoid the 110. We should do this every Sunday like they do in Bogota pic.twitter.com/RhlGrhSE4y
— brent (@broccolipack) October 29, 2023
https://twitter.com/GlennC1/status/1718837817558839451
Made it on the local news making it out for #arroyofest with @GravelBikeCal.@ActiveSGV @bikinginla @StreetsblogLA https://t.co/RvJkrMzZlX
— Zachary Rynew (@Ciclavalley) October 30, 2023
……..
She gets it.
Los Angeles Times culture columnist Mary McNamara extended her beat Sunday to what she termed “Blood Alley,” as Pacific Coast Highway winds, or maybe speeds, through 21 deadly miles of Malibu coastline.
And by extension, some of the other iconic LA-area roadways too many drivers seem to think were built for high-speed thrills.
In Los Angeles, it isn’t just PCH that’s treated like a cinematic backdrop with often fatal consequences. After being featured in “The Fast and Furious” franchise, streets in Angelino Heights roiled with the type of street racing that has plagued other parts of Los Angeles for years. Angeles Crest Highway remains a draw for reckless driving too; despite increased Highway Patrol presence, there are yearly incidents of motorists taking its curves too fast and driving over steep cliffs.
So yes, Malibu definitely needs speed cameras, sidewalks and more signs reminding motorists that they are entering a residential area. Perhaps, as some including Shane suggest, those 21 miles of PCH that cut through Malibu should be designated as a boulevard rather than a highway, with all the traffic-law changes it would require…
There is no reason on God’s green Earth for anyone who is not involved in a professional auto race or being chased by actual monsters to drive more than 80 miles an hour, never mind 100. “The Fast and the Furious” is a film franchise; James Bond is a fictional character; and PCH is, in many places, a treacherous road that should be driven with care even if the Beach Boys are playing.
If you need the exhilaration of speed, go on a roller coaster.
Take a few minutes to read the whole thing.
Then read the paper’s examination of why LA County’s killer highway continues to claim more victims.
……..
As if we haven’t had enough bad news lately, someone riding a bicycle in Palm Springs was critically injured when they were struck by an alleged drunk driver early Saturday.
Twenty-two-year old Mecca resident Diego Pacheco was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence for the 1 am crash.
No word on the current condition or identity of the victim.
……..
Jury selection was scheduled to begin today in the trial of Kaitlin Armstrong for the murder of 25-year old champion gravel cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas earlier this year.
Armstrong was the subject of an international manhunt when she fled the country after allegedly shooting Wilson, who she saw as a romantic rival for the affections of professional cyclist Colin Strickland..
………
Police in Madrid are investigating what appeared to be an intentional attack, as a motorist accelerated into a Critical Mass-style protest ride in support of Palestinians, injuring five bike riders; however, the driver claimed he acted in self-defense after several riders assaulted his car.
News broke over the weekend that a New Zealand TV star erupted into a bizarre rant when a bike advocate approached him about allowing a bike path to pass through his estate earlier this year, calling her “the enemy” and saying she needed to “have her head cut off and brain replaced.”
A New Jersey man faces charges after a 70-year old man died two weeks after he punched the victim and knocked him off his bicycle; the incident allegedly began when the victim hit the man’s girlfriend with his handlebars, then called him a racial slur.
Police in Telford, England warned local residents about an “errant cyclist” riding an ebike who was abusing pedestrians and wheelchair users on a local trail.
………
UCLA is bringing back a program allowing staff and graduate students to trade their parking permits for a free bicycle worth up to $900.
A writer for the UC Santa Barbara student newspaper puts tongue firmly in cheek, and suggests the Tour de France had been rerouted to the campus bike lanes for the second week of the fall semester, and all students were automatically entered.
Sad news from Fresno, where a man riding a bicycle was killed when he was struck by a train after apparently waiting for one train to pass, without realizing there was another coming from the opposite direction. One more reason why you should always wait for the crossing gates to go up before riding across the tracks.
The Bike League is out with their latest list of the most Bicycle Friendly Universities, with Stanford, Colorado State University, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, the University of Wisconsin – Madison and Boise State University awarded platinum status. Only one of which is in my platinum-level bike friendly hometown.
Honolulu residents turned out to pick up trash and revitalize the bike path that runs along Pearl Harbor’s waterfront.
Velo talks with Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer about his career-long support for bike riding, as well as a possible national ebike rebate and how to advocate for bikes.
The driver who killed BMX champ Nathan “Nate” Miller in Las Vegas last month was somehow still on the road, despite receiving at least 19 tickets for driving without a license, registration or insurance. Just one more example of officials keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late; he should have been in jail, or had his car impounded, at the very least.
Chicago advocates are justifiably outraged after a hit-and-run driver who killed a man riding in a bike lane was released without charges, even though a Breathalyzer test showed she was two-and-a-half times the legal alcohol limit when the cops stopped her.
Hundreds of Pittsburgh bicyclists turned out for a 60-mile race around the city and up 13 of Pittsburgh’s steepest hills, as spectators offered participants a choice of water or beer.
Baltimore letter writers say no, bike riders belong on the streets, not in alleys.
Road.cc offers advice on choosing the right bicycle for commuting to work.
A new report from the UK shows that motorists fail to see a 22% of bicyclists, compared to just 4% of jaywalkers — and younger drivers miss seeing a whopping 31%.
A new German study concluded bicyclists are more caring and concerned with the “common good” than drivers, writing “the benefits of cycling over driving are more profound and sustainable than previously thought.” Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
An Ottawa, Canada website says more residents of the city are riding their bikes through the winter months, even as climate change increases the risk from winter storms.
A Montreal writer says he’s grateful for the “insta-super-treatment” he received at a Vermont hospital after an endo on a rented ebike, compared to the endless waits in a Montreal hospital, and didn’t even mind the $10,000 hospital bill since his union insurance should cover it.
An American man completed a 963-mile journey from Nagasaki to Yokohama, Japan on a Penny Farthing, recreating a 1886 trip on the high-wheeler the Japanese called a dharma bicycle.
A Singaporean website asks if a new bikeway network is the answer to going car-lite, concluding that most people won’t give up their cars for a bicycle, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Australian traffic safety experts are calling for an investigation after bicycling deaths have risen more than any other group over the past 12 months.
Velo has reaction from the peloton to the newly announced routes for next year’s men’s and women’s Tour de France.
Who needs to rough it when you can tow your own portable treehouse behind your bike? Your next bicycle could be the illegitimate offspring of a track bike and a cargo bike.
And who says you have to see to ride a bike?
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.
I suffered a bad blood sugar crash Wednesday night, dropping down to a dangerous level and unable to get it back up; I was minutes from waking my wife to take me to the ER when it finally started rising again.
Good times.
Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels.
……..
Police arrested a driver for the gruesome hit-and-run that killed a Willowbrook bike rider Tuesday morning.
Sixty-six-year old Compton resident Felipe Avalos was arrested later Tuesday after witnesses provided LAPD investigators with the license number of the van he was allegedly driving when he ran over 65-year old Francisco Gonzalez.
Avalos is accused of dragging Gonzalez’ body nearly a mile under the van as he twisted and turned to make his escape.
Witnesses reported that Avalos appeared to intentionally run down Gonzalez on his bike, but police investigators have been unable to corroborate that.
……..
Twenty-two-year old Fraser Michael Bohm, the driver who killed four Pepperdine sorority sisters in a collateral damage crash as they stood next to PCH last week, was allegedly traveling 104 mph in a 45 mph zone at the time of the crash.
Bohm is charged with four counts of each of felony malice murder and felony gross vehicular manslaughter, and remains behind bars on $4 million bond.
His attorney claims, apparently with a straight face, that Bohm was speeding in an attempt to get away from road-raging driver, and wasn’t doing more than 70 mph as he tried to escape.
Although you’d think he might have mentioned something like that to the cops after the crash.
Or maybe they just didn’t believe him.
……..
The 72-year old bike rider who survived the vehicular violence rampage that killed former Bell CA police chief Andreas “Andy” Probst labeled the two teenagers accused of intentionally running him down as “human garbage.”
Meanwhile, the two teens were disgustingly observed laughing, and flipping the bird at Probst’s family during Wednesday’s court hearing.
Two teens accused of intentionally running down a 64-year-old retired police chief while he was riding his bike in Las Vegas were seen in court flipping off the family and trying to intimidate them.https://t.co/DnaJCxNoWX pic.twitter.com/DtAy40GvNu
— The National Desk (@TND) October 25, 2023
……..
Gravel Bike California visits Maverick Cycles.
NEW GRAVEL GUIDE(4K): Definitely Los Angeles has a shortage of great, community bike shops which is why Maverick Cycles and has great riding in their back yard to boot!@bikinginla @TheRadavisthttps://t.co/QXJNBuZu7n
— Gravel Bike California (@GravelBikeCal) October 26, 2023
……..
Jimmy Fallon is one of us.
Although maybe he should invest in a good bike cam, instead of flipping his bike trying to ride one-handed to record his daughter’s bike riding.
Note: This is not Jimmy Fallon.
Born on this day, October 26, 1951:
Bootsy Collins, musician, shown here getting down with his low-rider.
Happy #bicyclebirthday, Bootsy!#BOTD pic.twitter.com/IbTn08FlIQ— Cool Bike Art (@CoolBikeArt1) October 26, 2022
……..
GCN suggests using your cellphone as your bike computer.
………
A 34-year old Madison, Wisconsin man pled guilty to two lousy charges of second-degree recklessly endangering safety for repeatedly stringing wires over a local bike path, catching at least one bike rider by the neck; police showed how seriously they weren’t taking the case when DNA pointed to the subject, and they waited five months to go back when no one answered the door at his home.
An anti-semetic DC driver used his SUV to block a Jewish mother taking her child to school in a cargo bike, calling them “the devil” and yelling “I don’t give a fuck about your safety. Your life is not my concern.” There’s no place for racism or anti-semitism in this world. Or any other form of hatred.
A Santa Rosa street vendor was busted for riding his tricycle around the city selling ice cream, chicharrónes, snacks and other items, including cocaine and meth.
A British woman suffered “potentially life-threatening” injuries when she was struck by someone riding a bicycle. But at least the bike rider stuck around and aided investigators this time.
………
TV station NBC Los Angeles and KCRW’s Greater LA offer more information on Sunday’s ArroyoFest, which will let you bike or walk on the 110 Freeway for the first time in 20 years.
A Culver City group has filed a crowdfunded lawsuit challenging the legality of the newly conservative city council’s decision to rip out the MOVE Culver City pilot project without conducting an environmental review.
Long Beach has approved over a half million dollars to begin work on the proposed Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway from Signal Hill to East Ocean Blvd, although that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the total $13 million cost.
Autonomous vehicle provider Cruise had their California permit yanked by the DMV, which discovered the company had omitted video of one of its cars dragging a pedestrian after a crash.
Garden Grove is working on becoming bike-friendly, with work starting on five new bike lanes in the coming months.
Emeryville, home to bike-friendly mayor John Bauters, installed a short, quick-build curb-protected bikeway, part of the mayor’s plan to connect the Bay Trail across the city.
A new Oakland bike co-op will give young people a chance to build or repair bikes they can take home for free, while hiring formerly incarcerated people to give them a second chance at life, too.
They get it. Santa Rosa’s Press-Democrat says bring on the bike valet.
Bicycling says be quiet, trolls; we’re trying to start the body-positive bicycling revolution. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.
A writer for Bike Magazine offers a justification for procrastination, listing ten things she’d rather do than clean her bike.
Men’s Health offers advice on how to lose weight by bicycling. I had to add weight training before the extra pounds came off, but maybe that’s just me. You can read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.
An Arizona man just completed a seven-month, 13,000-mile ride around the US.
Police in Las Vegas finally arrested the driver who killed BMX star Nathan “Nate” Miller as he rode a bike last month, a week after a local TV station aired video showing the 32-year old driver speeding and quickly changing lanes before crashing into Miller.
Normally tight-fisted Texas has approved nearly $345 million for bicycle and pedestrian projects across the state. Then again, it is a big state.
Some Amish communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio are abandoning their traditional horses and wagons in favor of ebikes.
Fatherly says the Erie Canal trail offers a 360-mile epic family bike ride through 200 years of American history.
Electrek describes the new Semi-Trike cargo bike from Brooklyn-based Civilized Cycles as a cross between a five-wheeled semi-truck and an ebike.
A New Jersey driver faces multiple charges for killing a 12-year old girl riding a bicycle last month, and critically injuring a 14-year old girl riding with her.
A DC bike rider wonders what the hell that thing in the bike lane is, apparently upon seeing their first bus island.
A couple dozen federal workers in DC turned out to call for more bike friendly routes for the more than 160,000 federal workers in the city, as government employees are being called back to the office.
Evidently, the hit-and-run epidemic involving bike riders has spread to Florida’s Tampa Bay.
Sales for bike helmet tech company MIPS are down a third, more evidence of a post-pandemic slump in bicycling.
Police in a pair of UK cities are recommending that bicyclists vary their routes home, because thieves could follow them, and come back later to steal things.
English bike brand Islabikes is the latest bikemaker to go belly-up, as it moves to cease production and sales once remaining stocks are sold.
An English man completed a 3,000-mile 41-day ride from Gloucester to Istanbul to raise funds to buy a pair of adaptive bikes for charity.
Iconic British bikemaker Pashley is starting a crowdfunding campaign to help it explore the ebike market. I’ll be the first to sign up for an e-Guv’nor, thank you.
Momentum examines how Utrecht’s Vredenburg become one of the busiest cycling routes in the world.
Life is cheap in Singapore, where a 70-year old man got a lousy 12-weeks behind bars for killing a man riding a bike after blowing through a crosswalk while driving without a license. But at least he got a nine-year ban on driving, although that didn’t seem to stop him this time.
Austrian company Tubolito is building a “nanogenerator” into its trademark orange bicycle inner tubes that acts like a mini-dynamo to power a wireless tire pressure sensor.
Heartbreaking news from Hong Kong, where rising Dutch cycling star Mark Groeneveld died of a suspected heart attack, collapsing moments after finishing a track event; he was just 20 years old.
The route for next year’s Tour de France was released, with no Paris finish for the first time in more than a century due to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Gravel cyclist Anne-Marije Rook discovers that carbon frames can be repaired, after Unbound Gravel destroyed her bike, and a repair shop gave it a second life.
A Maryland high school student intends to be the first Black woman to represent the US cycling team, taking aim at the 2028 LA Olympics.
If you’re going to flee from police on your bike, try to find a better hiding place. If you’re going to steal four bikes from a university campus, remember to take your backpack with you when you leave.
And Loki and Mobius are two of us, if you look hard enough.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
I’m writing this after getting the second in a series of shots directly into my right eye to control retinal bleeding caused by diabetes.
So please forgive me if I miss a few mistakes today, because I can’t read shit right now.
Just one more reason diabetes sucks.
……..
This is who we share the road with.
Sheriff’s deputies re-arrested Fraser Michael Bohm on Tuesday, the 22-year old driver accused of killing four Pepperdine University sorority sisters last week.
Bohm was allegedly speeding on PCH in the BMW he got for his 18th birthday when he slammed into three parked cars, which then crashed into the victims. He stands charged with four counts of murder, and being held on $8 million bond.
Yes, million.
The question is what evidence deputies have developed to justify a murder charge, let alone four. Under California law, elevating vehicular manslaughter to murder would require evidence that Bohm knew his actions were likely to result in death.
Meanwhile, enraged community members stored Monday’s Malibu city council session to demand action to improve safety on SoCal’s killer highway.
That included calls for speed cams, which are currently only allowed in Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach, along with three NorCal cities, under a recently passed pilot program.
But what’s really needed is a redesign of the highway with protected bike lanes, walkways and traffic calming measures to make speeding difficult, if not impossible. And turn LA County’s deadliest highway into the Malibu Main Street it always should have been.
A petition from a grieving father calls for much-needed immediate and long-term action to improve safety on the highway.
Please sign the petition and share. It’s time we fix PCH. https://t.co/bNxLzoBczS #SpeedKills #MakePCHSafe #Pepperdine
More to come. We are about to generate a massive amount of public pressure to get @CaltransDist7 to do their job. pic.twitter.com/a7Qepp4ac1
— Streets Are For Everyone (@StreetsR4Every1) October 23, 2023
……..
A trial date has been set for next year for the two Las Vegas high school students charged with the intentional hit-and-run killing of former Bell CA police chief Andreas “Andy” Probst.
Jesus Ayala and Jzamir Keys — who were 17 and 16, respectively, at the time of the crash — are scheduled to be tried as adults beginning September 16th, 2024.
Meanwhile, new video has emerged of the teens running down the second victim in a stolen car that day, laughing as they injured a 72-year old man less than an hour before killing Probst.
……..
Why am I not surprised?
LA Mayor Karen Bass was for removing the 90 Freeway stub and turning it into a linear park and housing before she was against it.
And people wonder why I don’t trust city officials.
LA Mayor @KarenBassLA in August: No one drives the 90 Freeway and tearing it down would make up for demolitions and lead to much-needed housing. It's a "freeway to nowhere."
Bass now: Everyone drives the 90 Freeway. Who could possibly support removing it? https://t.co/Rq6RtSLEzJ pic.twitter.com/BDiEsMP56R
— Liam Dillon (@dillonliam) October 21, 2023
……..
Yet another community introduces an ebike rebate before California’s long-delayed program finally launches.
If it ever does.
If you live on one side of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and work on the other, you can get $500 off an e-bike purchase!
If your income is below a certain level, you may qualify for up to a $1000 discount! pic.twitter.com/Bp6NNirbZN
— Marin County Bicycle Coalition (@marinbike) October 23, 2023
………
Nothing like getting run down head-on by a driver because he couldn’t see what was directly in front of his car.
Actual quote:
"Didn't see you because I couldn't see out of the windscreen" https://t.co/xaOG49UeoE— Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng) October 24, 2023
………
That’s gonna leave a mark.
This is what it looks like to hit another mountain biker head-on.
………
Thousands of bike riders turned out for Key West’s annual Zombie Bike Ride.
………
A Hollister bike rider suffered head injuries when he was intentionally run down by a pickup driver after getting into an altercation with the driver and his passenger at a gas station
New York officials abruptly shut down a vital Queens bike path without any public input, notification or explanation, though a city council member was happy to take credit, blaming it on an “influx of ebikes and cars.”
Huh? A London writer says it’s time to regulate ebikes modified to exceed speed restrictions — which means that they’re already illegal.
No bias here. A writer in the UK says we all need to wear hi-viz vests in order to reduce traffic deaths. Might as well just call for clown makeup to complete the outfit while he’s at it.
An Illinois man faces drug and resisting arrest charges after fleeing from cops who tried to stop him for riding without a light; he evaded officers by riding through alleys and people’s backyards, before they tased him as he tried to enter his home.
………
Streetsblog looks at new bus-bike lanes on Sepulveda and Ventura blvds.
Bike Walk Glendale is calling on you to make your voice heard on the city’s Bicycle Transportation Plan, with a pair of public meetings next month.
Streetsblog’s SGV Connect podcast celebrates the first anniversary of the GoSGV bike lending program, while rising local writer Carribean Fragoza reads a nonfiction piece about a scary bike crash while riding alone and underprepared on industrial Rush Street.
Pasadena Now looks forward to Sunday’s first carfree Arroyo Fest on the 100 Freeway in 20 years.
Calbike talks with board member Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, a mobility justice strategist who directed and co-produced a pair of films on Biking While Black, as well as a guide to the movies.
Huntington Beach opened the city’s first bike boulevard on Utica Ave.
A San Diego man suffered memory loss after an e-scooter crash, unable to even remember getting married or having a kid.
A Hemet middle school student was lucky to escape without injuries when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver, after reportedly riding his bike into traffic without looking while biking to school.
Visalia will soon be the first city in California’s Central Valley to have protected intersections.
PopSugar presents the best balance bikes for toddlers.
An Oregon legislator wants to legalize ped-assist ebikes for kids under 16, while maintaining the current ban on throttle-controlled ebikes.
Boulder, Colorado is the first city to bring concrete tall curbs to the United States to separate bike lanes and vehicle travel lanes. Even though it looks like standard K-rail.
Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus offers a photo essay of New Yorkers on bikes.
New York considers a pair of bills to regulate ebike delivery riders, including requiring an ebike safety course and making providers cover the cost for safety equipment and safe ebike batteries.
A Maryland TV station says your next car could be an ebike.
Tragic news from North Carolina, where a man died after he was struck by a driver while riding 67 miles to celebrate his 67th birthday.
That’s more like it. Atlanta is introducing an app showing the location of bike racks throughout the city.
A group of 19 leading companies in the automotive, bicycling & tech sectors have banded together to develop a smart V2X communication system to help improve the ‘digital visibility’ of bicyclists and other vulnerable road users. As long as you’e willing to wear some sort of digital sensor that matches the one only some drivers are using, anyway.
A writer for Cycling Weekly gets explosive results when she experiments with bicarb supplements — but thankfully, not in terms of gastrointestinal issues.
A Canadian bike rider was lucky to avoid becoming collateral damage when two drivers collided right in front of him.
Police in Birmingham, England used lights and sirens to pull over a woman and her eight-year old granddaughter as they rode their bikes — not for any traffic violation, but just a little friendly safety advice about wearing helmets.
No bias here, either. British tabloids are accusing London’s cycling czar with “cherry picking” stats to show bike ridership has tripled in a busy part of London in order to justify more spending on bike lanes; critics accuse him of counting bicycle delivery riders, who are, in fact, riding bicycles, and would all be using cars if they weren’t.
While Paris becomes increasingly welcoming to bike riders, France’s fifth-largest city is banning bikes, scooters and skateboards from the city center
Slovenian cycling star Primož Roglič says he planned to jump to the Bora-Hansgrohe team before the recent drama at the Vuelta, when it became clear that Jonas Vingegaard would be team leader, and super domestique Sepp Kuss won the race. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.
Meanwhile, Kuss says he thinks it’s better for everyone if Roglič is on another team. Ditto.
Video captures “absolute carnage” during the men’s elimination race at Saturday’s UCI Track Champions League, as a mid race crash takes competitors down like bowling pins.
Presenting an ebike for people who don’t want anyone to know you’re riding an ebike. Your next bike could have an airbag — or you could, anyway.
And you can now get a new ped-assist ebike foldie for less than $900. But you could have had a 121-year old Steffey ped-assist, gas-powered motor-bike instead.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
This is who we share the road with.
Tuesday night, four young Pepperdine University students were killed by an alleged speeding driver on Southern California’s killer highway.
The four 20-year old college seniors were standing on the side of the road in an area locals call Dead Man’s Curve when the 22-year old driver slammed into three parked cars, knocking them into the women.
And making them all collateral damage on a roadway designed and build to accommodate, if not encourage, high speeds.
The driver, Fraser Michael Bohm, was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, which will likely be upgraded to four counts once he’s arraigned.
It’s only a pity that the people who have gone out of their way to keep this killer highway dangerous and deadly won’t face charges with him.
It was nearly a decade ago that I began representing the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, now BikeLA, on the PCH Task Force.
The task force was created by the state legislators who then represented the Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica and Ventura County areas to address safety and other concerns on the highway, with input from the various stakeholders.
The LACBC took an interest because PCH is such a popular route for bicyclists of all kinds. And claimed so many as victims.
In fact, it is the single most deadly roadway for bike riders in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
The LACBC joined with other representatives to demand safety improvements to the highway, ranging from road diets and protected bike lanes, to eliminating roadside parking and reducing speed limits.
In almost every case, we were told what we were asking for was impossible. We were told the road, Malibu’s 22-mile long main street, was necessary to funnel commuters from Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley in and out of the LA area.
The overly wide traffic lanes, high speed limits that were nearly universally exceeded, slip lane right turns and roadside parking were all necessary to prevent excessive traffic congestion, or so we were told.
Never mind they also encouraged speeding drivers weaving in and out of slower traffic 22 hours a day. And put bike riders at needless risk of right hooks and dooring.
Caltrans, which has responsibility for the roadway, could have taken steps to dramatically improve safety years ago.
They didn’t.
Malibu, Los Angeles and Santa Monica could have demanded changes that would have saved lives.
They didn’t.
Sure, minor changes were made. A painted bike lane here, widening the shoulder there. But the killer highway remained, and remains, a deadly speedway for most of the day and night.
Now four young women, who did nothing to put their lives in danger, are dead — victims of an alleged speeding driver, and the officials, engineers and bureaucrats who enabled him.
The young man behind the wheel is likely to be middle-aged before he gets out of prison, unless an overly lenient judge takes pity on him.
It’s just a pity that the others who have worked so hard to keep PCH so deadly won’t be there with him.
What a fucking waste.
A 2013 publication highlights the joys of biking sans helmets on SoCal’s deadliest highway.
……..
San Diego media sources were whipped into a tizzy by “startling new statistics” from the city’s Rady Children’s Hospital, which shows increasing rates of ebike and e-scooter injuries, especially among children.
Yet once again, they fail to put any of it in context.
Injuries can be expected to rise with increasing rates of any activity. If more people started playing Frisbee golf, we’d see rising rates of arm and impact injuries as a result.
What matters is whether those injuries are rising faster than the increase in ridership, or becoming more serious than a baseline of bicycling injuries.
Unless and until we have that context, reports like this are nothing more than a concerning, but anecdotal, data point.
……..
Frequent contributor Megan Lynch forwards news that UC Davis journalism students, not the professional press, are digging into what’s been done since a student was killed by a university employee while riding her bike.
I was lucky enough to be logged on to Mastodon at the time the MuckRock bot sent this through. Otherwise I’d never have known someone was finally making a CPRA request on this. Sadly, it was not made by UC Davis student journalists, but students in a journalism class at University of Nevada, Reno.
You may remember that (19-year old sophomore) Tris Yasay was killed by a yet-unnamed UC Davis employee driving a UC Davis sanitation truck on May 25, 2022. First responders were all UC Davis employees as well (UCDPD and UCDFD). Local press didn’t ask many questions and the few that the Davis Enterprise followed up on was because I got after the reporter about it. It still wasn’t what was needed. UC Davis was successful in burying the questions.
Months later, its PR flacks linked the “accident” and the grant they applied for re “cyclist and pedestrian safety” that simply targets pedestrians and cyclists for re-education, not its own drivers.
So far as I know, UC Davis has not done any campaign to re-train its own drivers or at least it has not publicized one. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that the claim was that the driver could not see the cyclist in the side view mirror. In which case, the position and efficacy of these mirrors needs to be examined. Because cyclists are a regular feature of the UC Davis campus and if the side view does not accurately reflect what’s going on, drivers should be trained to crane their heads around and look for themselves BEFORE turning. “Blind” spots should be minimized on the vehicle.
But haven’t read about any of that happening.
I’m interested to see what the student journalist finds and if the MuckRock interface will let everyone see it when UC Davis responds. They also requested the City of Davis Bicycle Action Plan.
……..
Our Deutschland correspondent Ralph Durham forwards a newsletter from the ADFC, aka General German Bicycle Club, on the subject of licensing bicycles, and why that’s a bad idea.
Here is a link to the ADFC newsletter on the subject of bike license plates. And their list of reasons not to have them. A huge one is the cost because of bureaucracy. Something Germans know a little about.
However, you’ll either need to read German, or dump the story into a translation service like Google Translate.
……..
I used to ride this same route almost daily to get to Lake Hollywood when I first moved to Los Angeles about a hundred years ago.
It didn’t feel safe then, and it feels a lot less safe now.
This is the scariest part of one of my commutes.
Cahuenga E northbound.
Over the last 100 years we have widened the Cahuenga pass to add more car lanes. 15 lanes of traffic.
No safe bike or pedestrian space to reach The Valley. @cd4losangeles @CaltransDist7 #BikeLA pic.twitter.com/xkmmVfHX3x
— BikeLanesLA (@BikeLanesLA) October 17, 2023
………
Bike Talk posts their latest episode, starting with questioning the effectiveness of Vision Zero on both coasts.
‘Perfect and Good’ @KidSafeSF @heybikela @BikeDad @amandeepjawa @LauraFriedmanCA @FNtrails @Taylor_Nichols7 @seamusgarrity @LindsayJS https://t.co/933xAdR9ql
— Bike Talk (@biketalkpfk) October 19, 2023
………
LA County wants your input on proposed bike paths in the county.
https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1714684080581955821
………
West Hollywood’s city council voted to end the city’s e-scooter trial phase and extend their contracts with Lime and Bird, although by a narrow 3 to 2 margin; the increasingly conservative WeHoVille site predictably did not approve.
Calbike claims a number of “big” legislative victories that survived the governor’s desk, along with concerns about bills creating an ebike safety study and a Caltrans bike czar.
The Kern County coroner’s office has finally identified the 39-year-old woman killed by a driver while riding her bike in Bakersfield last month; the CHP continues to blame her for crossing in front of the driver’s car.
The two people killed by shifting lumber form a passing Freightliner truck while riding their bikes on Napa County’s Silverado Trail were identified as a married couple from Portland, Oregon; no word on why they were riding in Napa. It’s questionable whether the driver gave them the required three-foot passing distance, which might have spared them from the impact.
No one seems to like San Francisco’s new Valencia Street centerline protected bike lane, as advocates call it dangerous and counterintuitive, while merchants along the street say it’s killing their business.
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is looking for a new executive director once again, as current ED Jannelle Wong is stepping down after just 18 months on the job.
NPR reports on the recent study that shows regular bike riding can improve mental health for middle school students. Which is one more reason for Safe Routes to Schools.
Bicycling offers a requiem and post-mortem for the popular Surly Cross Check, which has been discontinued by the bikemaker. This one doesn’t seem to be available from other sources, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.
Friends of 32-year old BMX champ Nathan “Nate” Miller want to know why the Las Vegas driver who killed him hasn’t been charged for the September crash, after security cam video surfaced showing the speeding driver jerking between lanes before crashing into Miller’s bike, then crashing into a fence and a parked vehicle.
The wife and daughter of fallen former Bell, California police chief Andreas “Andy” Probst first realized he was injured when they got an alert of a fall from his Apple Watch, then heard police sirens and helicopters just blocks from their Las Vegas home; two teens face murder charges for intentionally running down Probst in a stolen car, apparently just for the hell of it.
A 62-year old Florida woman has been identified as the hit-and-run driver captured in a viral video crashing into an 11-year-old girl riding her bike in a school parking lot, and pushing her at least 60 feet with the car; instead of helping the girl, she just got out of her car, asked if the victim was okay, and told her to just go home and take a shower.
Once again, a cop has killed someone riding a bicycle, this time in Marion County, Florida, where a 22-year old sheriff’s deputy ran down a 63-year old man early Wednesday; investigators quickly blamed the victim for riding on a dark roadway without a helmet or reflective clothing, or using lights on his bike. Because apparently, patrol cars in Florida don’t have headlights that could have illuminated someone riding a bike.
Momentum offers 13 helpful tips for a worry-free first-time bike commuting experience.
Inside EVs says the new European Declaration on Cycling offers 36 principles aimed at advancing bicycling in the European Union, laying the groundwork for future legislation to unlock the full potential of bicycles.
An Australian woman has been seriously injured riding her bike, less than a week after warning a Victoria state parliamentary inquiry into road safety about the extreme risks bicyclists face on the country’s roads.
Sad news from Arizona, where longtime bike racer John Timbers, a previous winner of the Iron Horse Classic and the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, and founder of Arizona’s Vuelta de Bisbee stage race nearly five decades ago, was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike in Tucson early Tuesday morning; he was 78.
That feeling when a trio of random tweets tells a story about traffic violence and automotive hegemony. Nothing like suffering a daily aerial assault on your bike commute.
And who says you can’t do stunts on a heavy-ass bikeshare bike?
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
