West Hollywood has been making big moves for better biking in recent years. In April 2025, the city council unanimously committed to building only protected bike infrastructure on future street projects — the first city in the Los Angeles area to do so — and followed it up by painting all existing bike lanes green on Fairfax Avenue, San Vicente Boulevard, and Santa Monica Boulevard for improved visibility. With the 2028 LA Olympics on the horizon, West Hollywood’s premier location in LA positions it as a key corridor for the broader active transportation push underway across Los Angeles ahead of the Games.
On the other hand, WeHo compared very favorably to LA’s subpar rating of 32 compared to the national average of 36, ranking us 1350th in the US, and barely in the top 200 California cities at 195.
And no, Los Angeles is not a city to watch. Even if we have climbed from the nadir of 2023, when we scored a whopping 19.
However, they still haven’t been publicly identified by any official source, so I won’t name them here. But reading what others had to say about them, it sounds like we lost some very exceptional people.
Then again, we’re all exceptional in some way, to someone.
There’s also no word yet on the name of the accused driver, who should have appeared in court by now, which raises the question of why they’re holding back his identification.
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Finally, someone in France must have a hell of a sense of humor.
There was no hot mic moment to detect the reaction of Trump, who is not known to bike and has joked about doing minimal exercise beyond regular golf outings.
Despite being called — or calling himself — the fittest, healthiest president in recent history, Trump has said he will never, ever ride a bicycle, and has mocked Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and John Kerry for their two wheeled exploits.
August 25, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Columnist who wrote about bus bike theft leaves LA, the massive cost of traffic violence, and restoring your faith humanity
She also told my own story of taking in a homeless man’s corgi so he could get back on his feet. Which literally saved his life when he saw the outpouring of love and support that resulted, much of it from readers of this site.
Along with a followup from earlier this year, relating how my wife and I had become friends with the now formerly homeless man, and the new puppy that filled the hole in our lives after our own corgi died.
To be honest, I’m not sure I would have trusted anyone else with the story.
Nita’s moving on to Portland, Maine, where she’ll be the new city editor for the Portland Press Herald.
So just let these numbers sink in: 112,519 people who weren’t in cars — mostly pedestrians and people on bicycles — have been killed by drivers since 9/11.
And nearly 2 million — yes, million — American traffic deaths since 1975, which would make it equivalent to the 5th largest city in the US.
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Somehow, we have to make our fellow Americans care enough to finally do something about it.
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I’m usually not one for surveys, but I might make an exception this time.
Anyone who does will be entered to win prizes, including this Schwinn Orange Krate bike.
From PeopleForBikes
Then again, the fewer people who respond, the better my chance of winning the bike I wanted as a kid, but never got.
So forget I said anything.
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This is who we share the road with.
Phil Gaimon posted video this morning of the aftermath of a road rage incident in Boulder, Colorado. Although it’s not clear if the driver severely beat the victim, or ran him down with his car, then got out to look at him.
The good news is, the driver has been identified, and may yet be held accountable for his crimes.
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As usual, drivers make the best case for protected bike lanes.
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Let’s interrupt the usual news with a few stories to help restore your faith in humanity.
Firefighters in Waukesha, Wisconsin opened their own wallets to buy a used bicycle for a man whose bike was destroyed in a collision with a driver, after learning it was his only means of transportation.
But something tells me I’m probably not qualified, anyway.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A road raging Aussie driver drove over a bicycle and took off with a bicyclist clinging to the hood of his car, in a confrontation that began when a group of bike riders complained about the driver swerving into them; the driver can be heard on the video saying “I will fucking destroy you, I’ve got money mate.” And there’s nothing scarier than an angry driver with money, right?
But sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A man was permanently banned from a Washington Walmart after entering the closed store on his bike, riding around the store pocketing drinks and candy bars before threatening security guards with a meat cleaver.
Simon Cowell is still one of us, taking his ebike for a ride through the ‘Bu, a year after shattering his back crashing an electric motorcycle. Which the press still insists on calling an ebike.
Heartbreaking news from Wisconsin, where an 88-year old man was killed by a driver while trying to make a left turn on his bicycle. Anyone who makes it to that age deserves better, damn it — and safer streets to ride on. Never mind that it takes the local paper until the penultimate paragraph to mention that the pickup that hit him even had a driver.
A pair of British men are on trial for murder in the death of a young father, after he accused one of them of stealing the other man’s bicycle to buy more drugs; the alleged killer swears he didn’t mean to harm the victim, despite repeatedly punching him and stomping on his head. I’d hate to see what he’d do if he did mean to hurt someone.
It’s starting to look like the only thing that could keep two-time defending Vuelta champ Primož Roglič from the red leader’s jersey is falling off his bike. Which is exactly what happened yesterday.
Tragic news from Spain, where ultra-distance cyclist Ana Orenz was competing in the unsupported, nearly 2,00-mile Transiberica race when she suffered “devastating” injuries after crashing into a wild boar during a high-speed descent; Orenz suffered a broken neck and spinal injuries, as well as severe head trauma, and lay alone in the roadway unable to move for two hours before she was found. A crowdfunding page has raised nearly $41,000 of the $58,700 goal.
Evidently, to show just how badly we’re doing on this side of the Atlantic, and how far we have to go.
Shockingly, one American city — Provincetown, Massachusetts — interrupted the expected list of cities from the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain and Belgium in the top ten.
As usual, though, the ratings often make little sense, like faux Dutch Solvang coming in ahead of more noteworthy bike cities like Davis CA and Boulder CO.
And bizarrely, one point above bike-friendly Long Beach.
But be prepared to be frustrated if you check out the site. The design is confusing, the search function is hidden in the upper right corner, and the links seem to freeze at random.
Or at least they did for me, regardless of browser.
A few weeks back, we told you about South LA’s Kellie Hart, and how the RideWitUs LA bike club she formed during the pandemic lockdown morphed into a brick and mortar bike shop.
Researchers found that 440,000 Black business owners nationally shuttered their businesses between February and April 2020 — a 41% plunge. Those numbers represent a tremendous loss for Black communities, but they don’t paint the full picture. New data show there’s also been a surge in new businesses despite the pandemic, with Black communities experiencing the greatest increase in business registrations.
The paper explains how the club grew organically from a single woman out for a ride to a fixed schedule serving well over one hundred riders.
The rides became more frequent, and one by one, Hart’s crew got bigger. Friends brought friends, and sometimes people out biking alone saw the group of young, mostly Black and Latino cyclists and joined them. By April 2020, the informal bike rides had a schedule and the group had evolved into a club…
Members of the RideWitUs bike club are mostly in their 30s and 40s. Most are Black or Latino and hail from South L.A. neighborhoods. They number about 150 strong and ride between 12 and 25 miles three times a week includingto Santa Monica, Redondo Beach and downtown L.A. Most did not see themselves becoming cyclists when they took their first rides, but they came back for the sense of community.
Then from that, to a thriving informal bike business.
Early on, Hart used her savings to buy three bikes and sold them within 24 hours. The next day, she bought five bikes and those sold immediately too.
“I haven’t stopped since that first day and the business has been booming,” she said.
From there, Hart grew into an actual bike shop.
And a Black-owned business was born, successfully riding the wave of the pandemic bike boom — one with big plans for future expansion into other services and events.
It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole story.
Then taking a few more to join the ride.
And shop the shop.
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Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
A few weeks back, I included a short link back to a group criticizing a code of conduct for a London Park to help bike riders and motorists get along.
Not that cars belong in parks to begin with, but still.
Okay, I added the part about the big, dangerous machines. Because they are.
But Bryan Dotson wrote from Houston to tell me I missed the mark.
I followed the link and read the Code of Conduct. It was on the website of a cycling group that had pushed for removing motor vehicles from the park. It was 180 degrees from your short summary.
I tried to comment but it didn’t appear to go through.
Since then, there has been a fuller discussion of this on Road.cc:
As I said, my read of their Code of Conduct is that it probably pretty reasonable. (I’m not there and don’t know local conditions, so I would give them the benefit of the doubt on some items..) Others may disagree on points,
I’m inclined more favorably to those who light a candle in the dark…
After following Bryan’s example and clicking through to the link he provided, I had to agree that the code of conduct does seem like a relatively reasonable attempt to keep the peace on sometimes contentious streets, and comes from the right place.
I’m the first to admit that I can be pretty flip, and quick with the snark; it’s both a reflection of my own personality, and a conscious effort to keep things light when I can, when so many of the stories we have to discuss can be so dark.
But sometimes I get it wrong.
And when I do, I count on you to help keep me honest.
Thanks to Bryan Dotson for doing exactly that.
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It was just a week ago that we learned about the death of Utah Jazz legend Mark Eaton, the 7’4″ shot blocking specialist who was found lying unresponsive in the roadway next to his bicycle, and died after being taken to a local hospital.
We still don’t know what caused Eaton’s death.
But Phillip Young writes to suggest that we all brush up on CPR in case a riding companion should suffer a similar collapse, or is involved in a crash during a ride.
The wife of fallen bicyclist Branden Findley wants the residents of their St. Andrews Square neighborhood — and the rest of us — to know about this past Tuesday’s arraignment of Ronald Earl Kenebrew, Jr, accused of killing Findley as he made his getaway in a carjacked van in DTLA, then simply walking away from the crash. Meanwhile, the gofundme for Findley’s daughters remains a little over a thousand dollars short of the $45,000 goal. Thanks again to Keith Johnson.
Engineers at the University of Minnesota have developed a smart, if somewhat awkward, ebike that can calculate a car’s trajectory, and honk to warn drivers who pose a treat. Then again, I can do that myself. And add some choice words and a gesture or two to go with it.
Attorneys for the Georgia State House Whip are working to quash an indictment the Republican legislator earned for helping a friend cover up a hit-and-run by failing to report it to the authorities, in a test of political power versus any semblance of justice.
If you’re in the mood for a European cycling vacation next summer, the 2022 European cycling championships scheduled for Munich in August is looking for English speaking volunteers. And nothing says you can’t stick around for Octoberfest the following month. Thanks to Ralph Durham for the link.
March 1, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on LA may not be worst bike city in US after all, bicyclist killed in FL endurance race, and LAPD says they’re not coming
The chart, produced by San Diego’s Tower Electric Bikes, allegedly based on stats from PeopleForBike’s City Ratings, ranks SaMo as the best bike city in the US.
And Los Angeles, not surprising, as the worst.
But while that often feels right, something just didn’t add up.
To start, the stats for Los Angeles on this chart aren’t remotely accurate.
Yes, riding a bike in Los Angeles sucks. But we average around 15 bicycling deaths per year in the City of Los Angeles. Not over 6,200 bicycling fatalities per year, which is what the figure they cite adds up to for a city of nearly four million.
PeopleForBikes puts Los Angeles relatively near the top of their ratings with a 3.0 rating for 2020, compared to a rating of 3.5 — out of a possible 5.0 — for the top ranked cities of San Luis Obispo and Madison, Wisconsin.
Which would undoubtedly come as a surprise to bike riders in SLO, if not Mad City.
With literally hundreds of cities rated below Los Angeles, there is no way those stats support ranking LA as the worst city bike in the US.
Even if it feels like it sometimes.
In addition, the PeopleForBikes City Ratings bizarrely rank bike-friendly Santa Monica far behind Los Angeles with a 1.9 rating. Not, as the chart claims, first in the country.
And Long Beach, which is generally regarded as the most bike-friendly city in LA County, rates even lower at a very sad — and highly inaccurate — 1.6.
It’s possible that the undated chart may have been circulating for awhile; I recall seeing something similar, if not the same, awhile back. But the stats don’t align with the City Ratings for Los Angeles for 2018 or 2019, either.
So I have no idea where Tower got their stats. But they’re not from the PeopleForBikes page, unless something got badly scrambled somewhere along the way.
Somehow, I suspect the chances that Los Angeles would ever shut down a busy road and turn it over to bikes for more than a day are somewhere south of none.
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Another success story.
Bike Index offers free, transferable lifetime registration, as well as your best chance of getting your bike back if anything happens to it. And it’s now used by the LAPD register bicycles and trace recovered bikes.
Now that’s more like it. A bipartisan bill introduced in the US Senate would provide $500 million every year to connect biking and walking and biking infrastructure into active transportation networks, allowing people to travel within a community, as well as between communities, without a car.
Now that’s more like it. DC’s Vision Zero law has real teeth, mandating that protected bike lanes have to be included on any street when road work is done, if it calls for one in the bike plan. If we had something like that here in LA, we might actually be making progress on both the dust-covered bike plan, and the city’s long-forgotten Vision Zero.
Great idea. Devon, England is attempting to keep drivers in line by passing out free helmet cams to bike riders so they can report drivers who break the law. Maybe if we passed them out to bicyclists — and pedestrians — we might finally tame the mean streets of Los Angeles.
An Iowa newspaper remembers a Black cycling champ from the 1890s — not the legendary Major Taylor, but 15-year old Leo Welker, who overcame a five minute handicap to easily win a 14-mile race. But was blacklisted by the League of American Wheelmen six years later, which banned Black cyclists, including Welker and Taylor, from competing in sanctioned races.
My apologies if you got a premature draft of today’s post. Evidently, I somehow inadvertently posted this while I was still working on it.
Either that, or I’ve got a bad case of cyber gremlins.
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In a dramatic reversal, Los Angeles approved plans to install the city’s first Slow Streets on several streets in the Del Rey neighborhood, which would have allowed people to get out to walk or bike while maintaining a safe social distance.
Then the city changed its mind, pulling the approval just hours before it was supposed to go into effect.
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Never mind that any delay defeats the entire purpose of the program, which is intended to help people get out now for fresh air and exercise when they need it most to maintain their mental and physical health.
But even if it hadn’t been cancelled, this is exactly what’s wrong with Los Angeles.
One small area would have gotten desperately needed slow streets to allow for social distancing. But only because one neighborhood council asked for them, and one councilmember cared enough to — almost — get it done.
We need citywide leadership in a time of crisis, not 15 fiefdoms with widely varying commitments to safer streets.
As in, none at all in some cases.
Let’s hope LA city leaders get their figurative heads out of their collective asses, and start giving Angelenos safe places to get outside and move around, like the World Health Organization calls for.
Not in one small neighborhood, but in all of them.
And if it sounds like I’m pissed off, that’s only because I am.
Especially after Portland committed to 100 miles of slow streets.
Meanwhile, San Diego County has reopened the SR-56 commuter bikeway between Solana Beach and Rancho Bernardo to pedestrians and bike riders.
As Robert Leone points out, it’s true that the pathway gets a lot of recreational use. But no one is stopping drivers to ask if their trips are necessary.
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Yet another study shows that bikes are good for business.
And discovered that most businesses saw improvements in sales and employment as a result of bike lanes, with restaurants showing the greatest growth.
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PeopleForBikes is hosting a virtual Draft Meetup for San Diego-area bike riders this evening; you can RSVP here.
Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.
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When you absolutely, positively have to pass the person on the bike, road dividers be damned.
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Note: I missed the date on this before posting it. Not the date of the tweet, but the May 14, 2015 on the video itself. So either the bicyclist didn’t set the date properly, or I need to apologize for posting a five year old video. Thanks to Aurelio Jose Barrera for the catch.
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Phillip Young forwards a full-length film about the glory days of Detroit’s Wolverine Sports Club, dedicated, as their site says, to promoting cycling, speedskating and cross-country skiing at all levels.
And no, I haven’t had a chance to see it myself yet, so let us know what you think.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.
After Ocean Drive was flooded with people exercising when the beachfront Strand pathway was closed, Manhattan Beach residents call for banning bikes and skateboards, and restricting it to residents only. Which is only slightly illegal, since bikes are legally allowed on any street cars are allowed on.
Prodigal Son actress Bellamy Young is one of us now, after she had two weeks to learn how to ride a racing bike for a part on Criminal Minds. And had to film the scene with a chipped a tooth from grinding her teeth out of fear of falling off.
State
Once again, the CHP accuses a bike rider of a SWSS,* insisting the victim swerved in front of a Fresno County driver and suffered “moderate to major” injuries. *For the uninitiated, SWSS refers to a single witness suicide swerve, which is a bike meme referring to the fact that bike riders usually get blamed for riding in front of drivers in the absence of independent witnesses, when it’s often the driver who doesn’t hold his or her lane.
A writer for Forbes says ebikes are cooler than you think, praising a chunky looking 30 mph bike from a Boston startup. Even though the article says it’s suited for bike lanes, its speed makes it illegal to ride in one in many states, including California. And you’ll need a helmet and a driver’s license.
The BBC questions whether we’re witnessing the death of the car, as cities around the world hope to keep many motor vehicles off the road long after the lockdowns end. Except in Los Angeles, of course, where city leaders seem committed to doing nothing.
No bias here. A London writer describes bicyclists as irritating little wasps that you can’t run down without fear of maiming one, yet gives riding a try anyway, on an ebike the size of a small motorcycle. However, most of the article is hidden behind the damn paywall.
They’re asking everyone to complete a brief, 10 minute survey with the goal of ranking every city in the US in terms of how safe and pleasant it is to ride.
Which means LA is bound to be one of the top rated cities, right?
Okay, you can stop laughing now.
You’re welcome to answer anonymously, or you can provide your name and email, and be entered for a chance to win a $1,500 Trek bike.
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Today’s common theme is a sad one.
Friends and family members remember Agustin Rodriguez, Jr., who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Whittier last month. The woman who so needlessly took his life with her erratic and aggressive driving remains at large, though police say they do have some leads.
Friends remember Laguna Nigel school teacher and triathlete Scott Clark, who died two weeks after he was collateral damage in a collision between two drivers as he was crossing a street in a crosswalk; he was the second pedestrian killed in the city since the start of the year, along with the collision that critically injured Schenkenberger.
Los Angeles Magazine says the long-delayed MyFigueroa Complete Streets project offers a glimpse into LA’s transportation future. Let’s hope that’s a glimpse at what our streets can be, not how long it will take.
Laura Friedman, who represents La Cañada Flintridge in the state legislature, says collaboration is key to transportation projects, but fails to mention any form of alternative transportation.
Santa Monica will host Parks Day, Come Play! on the 25th of this month, featuring the grand opening or dedication of several parks, along with a bike ride with the mayor.
More controversy over the inexplicably controversial plan to build a 50-mile bike path around the Coachella Valley, as residents of a seniors community express concerns that bike riders will peer into their bedrooms and break into their homes. Because peeping Toms and burglars never come by car.
Sad news from Sacramento, as a middle school student was killed in a collision while riding his bike; a CHP spokesman said he died because he wasn’t wearing a helmet. No, he died because he was hit by a car.
National
Self Magazine considers what cycling, including the indoor kind, is doing to your vagina. For those who have one, of course.
North Dakota voted down the bill that would have allowed drivers to run down anyone who was intentionally blocking traffic, without fear of prosecution. Which could have included cyclists taking the lane, if police concluded they didn’t belong there.
A bike-riding Houston editor says there’s no one simple answer to safer streets, and the city needs to put the same energy and ambition they demonstrated in hosting the Super Bowl behind making the city safer for everyone.
British dog owners are looking for the man crashed into a small dog with his bike, then kept on going; the three-year old dog lost all but two of its teeth as a result. Seriously, it takes a heartless jerk to keep riding after injuring any animal; but it’s the owner’s responsibility to keep their dogs safe and out of harms way.
