Tag Archive for Playa del Rey

Disinformation campaign opposes Better Overland project, and Florida adults rough up kid for pulling ebike wheelies

April 7, 2026 / / No comments

She gets it.

A writer for Culver City Crossroads complains about a lawn sign campaign to “Save Overland” from the Better Overland Complete Streets project.

She argues that the opposition campaign is “both amazing and shocking. Also, laughable.”

The slogans on these signs are not just false, they are complete reversals of truth. That is organized disinformation.

So, first of all, there is no plan to remove all the parking from Overland Ave. Making this the top slogan shows that the people leading this campaign are consciously using a bait-and-switch approach to getting your attention.

She goes on to make the case that the project has been thoroughly vetted, and if people didn’t know about it, it’s only because they weren’t paying attention.

Actual, verifiable facts: The Better Overland project has been in process since May of 2024, and has been approved twice by the Culver City Council. Twice.

City staff held eight public meetings for the community, in addition to multiple private meetings with smaller organizations that were stakeholders in the process.

There were QR codes posted along the entire length of Overland Avenue so that everyone using the street could post their thoughts and ideas regarding Overland directly to the project portal. They received more than a thousand public comments, the vast majority in favor of the project.

It’s typical whenever a project like this goes in that some people will somehow insist there wasn’t enough public outreach, no matter how many times they were given an opportunity to provide their input.

Or that they were never informed, despite repeated efforts to do just that.

That was what happened in Playa del Rey, when opponents said they were never informed about the road diets to Vista del Mar, Pershing Drive and Manchester Ave, or given a chance to voice their objections.

Even though the project was designed by local residents, part of a multi-year public process that included several meetings at a local school, as well as outreach efforts to contact local residents.

So if anyone didn’t know about it, it was because they had their heads firmly buried in the sand at Dockweiler Beach.

Never mind that any increased congestion usually goes away as motorists find other routes, or other ways to get around, like walking or riding a bicycle.

Then there’s the ultimate trump card for the driving public, which seems to be in play with Better Overland, that officials are coming for your parking spaces.

Even though most homes have driveways, and the curb space along the street belongs to the city, not local homeowners. And any actual loss of parking is usually mitigated nearby.

It’s inevitable that no matter what a city does to prepare residents for road changes, some people will always complain. It’s human nature to resist change.

But as former New York DOT director Janette Sadik-Khan put it, people always fight to prevent changes. Then once they get used to it, they’ll fight to keep it.

………

A group of at least five adults are being investigated for allegedly roughing up a kid in Palm Beach, Florida who was doing wheelies on his ebike, while a woman heckled the boy from the sidelines.

They are also accused of stealing the boy’s phone, which contained video of the altercation.

No matter what the boy was doing, or what kind of ebike he was riding, they had no right to put hands on him or take his property.

If he was actually causing a problem, call the cops. That’s what they get paid for.

@sab.trader445

Crazy, who do you thinks at fault? – #fyp #viral #ebikekid #karen #xyzcba

♬ original sound – CrazyClips

………

Streets For All is endorsing CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman for Mayor of Los Angeles, calling her the change agent the city needs.

………

LADOT is looking for input on creating a low-stress bikeway along Marmion Way and Monte Vista Street, rather than implementing the road diet long planned for the deadly, high-speed North Figueroa corridor.

The Complete Streets project was killed by former Councilmember Gil Cedillo, who was for it before he was against it. Cedillo conducted a series of sham public meetings, which ostensibly gauge public opinion, while blocking comments from those in favor of the project.

………

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

Sad news from Tulare County, where the CHP was quick to blame the victim when someone riding a bicycle was killed after allegedly veering left in front of an SUV driver — which a local paper TV station reported by saying “it” veered in front of the SUV. Talk about a great job of dehumanizing someone. Never mind that what actually happened depends entirely on whether there were any independent witnesses, or if the CHP relied entirely on the driver’s perspective. 

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

Schmuck. A British bike rider is justifiable criticized after posting video of himself telling a pedestrian to “use a bit of fucking common sense” when the man steps out in front of him as the bike rider ran the red light. Seriously, don’t do that. 

………

Local 

No significant action yet on Joe Linton’s lawsuit to force Metro to comply with Measure HLA by installing bike lanes on the Vermont Avenue project, after the first day in court last week.

 

State

Sad news from San Jose, where a man was killed trying to put out an ebike battery fire in his apartment; a woman was able to escape without serious injury. A tragic reminder to only use UL or European certified lithium-ion batteries, as well as a battery that’s made for your bike.

That’s more like it. Santa Rosa is installing 120 new U-shaped bike racks in key locations along the city’s bicycle network.

 

National

Portland, Oregon is launching a $20 million ebike rebate program to help pay for more than 6,000 ebikes over the next three years. Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, which has invested exactly $0 in ebike rebates to help improve traffic congestion and air quality by getting cars off the road.

Washington State is rolling out another round of ebike rebates up to $1200 for a Class 1, 2 or 3 bike, with recipients chosen by lottery. That compares favorably to California’s ebike rebate program, which now only pays for electric cars after the funding was stolen by the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up. 

You’ve got to be kidding. A 52-year old Arizona man died in police custody after he was repeatedly struck and tased by cops for fleeing a traffic stop — because he didn’t have a damn headlight on his bicycle.

A Las Vegas writer says you can easily bike to any of the city’s three major sports arenas in ten minutes or less from the Las Vega Strip, with bike parking available at each site.

A Wyoming group is opposing a bike trail over fears it would cut off a vital migration route for a mule deer herd, even though supporters says it would be on the opposite side of a lake and wouldn’t affect the herd.

A writer for Cycling West recounts her experiences exploring the bikeways of the Grand Tetons National Park, easily among the most beautiful spots in the US.

A pair of sisters in their 60s are riding more than 2,000 miles from Miami to Cape Cod along the East Coast Greenway to raise climate awareness.

Hats off to a group of Fort Meyers, Florida nonprofits, who provided eight adaptive bicycles to local kids with disabilities.

 

International

Momentum offers 20 reasons why the Netherlands is a bicyclist’s paradise, as if we needed any convincing; the magazine also shares six lessor-known bike-friendly cities around the world. None of which is Los Angeles. Or even on the West Coast. 

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 72-year old Indian man is joining six other men to ride more than 2,200 miles across Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Prices for Chinese ebikes are going up, as the price of raw materials goes up and the country reduces trade-in incentives.

A 33-year old Australian man faces culpable homicide and DUI charges after a woman was killed in a skitching incident last year, when she lost her grip on the man’s SUV and fell into the car’s path.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar could etch his name in history as just the fourth cyclist to win all five Monuments, including the great Eddy Merckx; Pog has already won Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and Il Lombardia, and only needs a win at Paris-Roubaix to complete the cycle.

The 40th edition of the Redlands Bicycle Classic kicks off tomorrow with a time trial at Lake Perris.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole the bike and belongings of Polish endurance cyclist Justyna Jarczok, which she described as everything she owns, including her house keys, when she stopped at a gas station after winning one of the UK’s toughest bikepacking events; her belongings were found at a local park, but her rare Kona mountain bike is still missing.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you somehow find humor in the idea of running someone down with an SUV.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday memorial for pregnant Playa crash victim and baby, comment on LA speed cam pilot, and bikes boost testosterone

February 20, 2026 / / No comments

Apparently, we jumped the gun yesterday.

Yesterday’s post featured a Twitter/X post announcing a Thursday night ghost bike memorial for 36-year old Google executive, mom, wife and expectant mother Regan Cole-Graham, who was killed by a 87-year old driver while riding with her husband and two young sons in Playa del Rey earlier this month.

So my apologies to anyone who showed up last night expecting to honor her.

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, will host a memorial and ghost bike installation for Cole-Graham and her unborn daughter, who the couple named Ophelia, at 10 am this Sunday.

It will be held at the site of the crash, at 8415 Pershing Drive.

I’ve written about a lot of sad things over the nearly two decades I’ve been doing this. But I can’t recall any that have hit me any harder.

Meanwhile, an op-ed by Jonathan Hale, described as a community activist and founder of People’s Vision Zero, says the deaths of Regan and Ophelia Cole-Graham suggests it’s time to rethink the Westside’s knee-jerk opposition to traffic safety.

Cole-Graham family photo from the GoFundMe page for Regan Cole-Graham, which has raised over $287,000 of the now $300,000 goal.

………

Speaking of SAFE, you can’t blame the organization for taking a small victory lap following LADOT’s announcement that they are finally ready for public comment on the city’s speed cam pilot program, after months of inaction.

Let’s hope they have at least one planned for Deadly del Mar.

According to LADOT,

On February 11, LADOT officially began a 30-day public review and comment period of the upcoming Speed Safety Systems Program Pilot.

Angelenos will have the opportunity to review the program’s policies and proposed locations of 125 speed safety systems, which are set to be placed in every council district. This is your time to ask the department questions and offer feedback on the pilot program’s policies, meaningfully contributing to the process of making our city safer, together.

Click here to provide an official public comment on LADOT’s Report to Council

To confront rising traffic deaths and injuries, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) is launching a Speed Safety Systems Program pilot across the city. The pilot program seeks to curb speeding and dangerous driving activity to make our city safer. But they can’t do it alone.

Speeding is one of the leading causes of serious injuries and deaths on our streets. In Los Angeles, around one in five fatal crashes in the city were directly attributed to speeding in 2024.

How to Submit Public Comment

You know your neighborhoods best. Your voices are essential to ensuring this program reflects community needs and advances our shared goal of safer streets for everyone.

The full program policies and recommendations are available on LADOT’s website.

To submit comments on the program, please do so through the council file. You can also send questions regarding the program to LADOT staff by replying to this email at ladot.speedsafety@lacity.org.

Thank you for your time and consideration during the process of this critical pilot program launch. Together, we can make our streets safer and reduce traffic deaths.

………

The not always bike-friendly London Times reports a small study has found that bicycling boosts testosterone levels in middle-aged men.

That’s in addition to other well known benefits such as burning fat, lowing cholesterol and boosting your immune system.

However, as with any limited study, the question is whether researchers will get the same result testing 2,800 men as they did with these 28.

Or 28,000.

………

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

No bias here. Nearly two-thirds of Chicago’s aldermen voted against a proposed ordinance that would have allowed private citizens to report commercial vehicles blocking bus lanes, bus stops and bikeways.

Ireland’s bus drivers union gets its Irish up calling for mandatory hi-viz for bike riders, insisting it would make the roads safer by making us easier to see. Even though people still manage to crash into such hi-viz items as road signs, bridges and emergency vehicles.

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

A British website places its metaphorical tongue deep inside its metaphorical cheek to criticize lycra-clad bicyclists who insist on riding in the streets instead of using bike lanes, which apparently takes all the fun and jeopardy out of it. But maybe the just do it because the bike lane is closed at one end and blocked by a parked van on the other.

………

Local 

A Los Angeles jury rejected a lawsuit alleging that an LAPD officer was intentionally killed by another cop during a 2022 bicycle training exercise at the police academy.

Santa Monica’s “Bicycle Nomad” is on a mission to honor Black history by riding historical trails across the country, such as tracing the route of the famed Buffalo soldiers, and the Underground Railroad.

The Loyola Marymount University student newspaper reports campus theft has returned to pre-pandemic levels, with thieves snatching everything from laptops to Labubus — including almost as many bicycles and skateboards as motor vehicles.

 

State

Redland’s new 3.8-mile segment of the Santa Ana River Trail is just a small part of what will eventually be a 110-mile pathway.

 

National

Road.cc reports US-based private equity giant KKR has lost its shirt, if not its ass, placing a $2.2 billion bet on bicycling by buying the Accell Group, parent company of Raleigh, Babboe, Lapierre and several other bike brands, losing all their initial equity plus another $1.36 billion since the 2022 takeover.

A Medford, Oregon man who designs riding routes for his bike club makes the case for why the city needs to do more to improve the safety of its streets.

That’s more like it. New Mexico’s state legislature passed a bill requiring student drivers to take a course on bicycle and pedestrian safety before they can get a license.

If you build it, they will come. Manhattan’s bike lanes and congestion pricing seem to be having the intended effect, as bicycle ridership over New York’s East River bridges has reached an all-time high for the fifth consecutive year.

A Philadelphia paper has honored the “tattooed, middle-aged hairstylist” who revived the Philadelphia Cycling Classic as their Citizen of the Week. Which sounds a tad 1984-ish, but still.

Sure, let’s go with that. A South Carolina woman was arrested for a hit-and-run that left a bike rider with a broken leg, as well as cuts and abrasions, insisting she had no idea she had crashed into someone because she was busy looking down at her phone and thought she just hit a sign; she was not charged with DUI, despite appearing “grossly intoxicated” when police arrested her two hours later. Never mind that distracted driving is illegal in South Carolina. Or that most rational people would have at least stopped to check for damage if they thought they’d hit something.

 

International

Cycling Weekly reports that a new, admittedly complicated tire level could solve the problem of mounting stiff tires once and for all. Unless you’re left-handed, in which case you’re screwed.

A picture of a flooded UK street looks like it could have been taken in LA yesterday.

If you build it, they will come, part two. In an annoyingly paywalled story, a Scottish paper reports that for the first time, there were more bicycles than cars on a Glasgow street during both the morning and evening peak rush hours. But at least the first two paragraphs are worth reading. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Former pro Phil Gaimon says he’s got leaked information detailing the full route of the road cycling race for the 2028 Olympics, and says he couldn’t have designed a better course himself.

But will he be on the side of the road handing out fresh cookies to the competitors? Only time will tell.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you’re planning to ride every stage of the Tour de France at 60 years old — despite a hip replacement and cancer diagnosis. Or when you take part in an unsanctioned, underground anti-Super Bowl bike race.

And lots of people ride with their dogs, but how many ride the entire Left Coast towing a 350-pound, life-size fiberglass rhinoceros?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Ghost bike placement tonight for pregnant woman killed in Playa, and memorial ride Sunday for Long Beach hit-and-run victim

February 19, 2026 / / One comment

Let’s start with a small correction. 

The other day, I tried to make one of my typically lame jokes, about why Islands magazine was writing about Montreal, when it isn’t one. 

Except, as Doug pointed out, it actually is. 

Which I suppose is the Canadian equivalent of not knowing Manhattan is an island. So I’ll just sit over here in the dunce corner for the rest of the day. 

Photo of one of SoCal’s far too many ghost bikes by Matt Tinoco.

………

A ghost bike will be placed tonight for 36-year old Regan Cole-Graham, who was killed by an elderly driver while riding with her husband and two sons on Pershing Drive in Playa del Rey — right where a road diet was ripped out to appease angry drivers in 2017, after being installed just months earlier.

I’m also told a heartbreaking little white Strider bike is being prepared to honor her unborn child, who died with her just two months short of full term.

………

Long Beach bike groups are hosting a memorial ride for Lori Ann Carreon this Sunday.

According to Bike Long Beach,

…this coming Sunday, a number of Long Beach cycling groups will gather at 4:00 p.m. at 2nd Street and Redondo Avenue for a memorial ride to remember Lori Ann Carreon, the cyclist that was struck and killed by a speeding hit-and-run driver two weeks ago. At 4:30 p.m., the group will ride together to Bixby Park (approximately 1 mile, 2 miles round trip) for a sunset candlelight vigil as they honor her life and come together in community. All are welcome. The ride will be slow and accessible to all. Please ride safely and bring a candle if you’re able.

 

I wish installations and rides like this wen’t necessary. But as long as they are, I’m glad there are still people willing to do it.

And you can get flameless candles online for as little as ten bucks, some of which look pretty realistic if you opt for the flickering variety.

………

Streetblog’s Damian Newton says the early reviews are bad on the proposed license plate-mandating ebike legislation we discussed here the other day, as bike safety advocates pan the bill.

And give him extra credit for quoting my comment that it’s just “an asinine political stunt.”

Meanwhile, Calbike wants your input to help fight the damn thing, as well as enforcing existing laws against illegally misrepresenting e-motos as legal ebikes.

………

Bike Long Beach is also hosting their next Bikes and Coffee ride Sunday morning, with a nine-mile, no-drop ride exploring the city’s aviation history.

If you’re planning to attend, sign their ride waiver. And you’re encouraged to bring a helmet, bike lock, and repair kit, as well as a bike in working order.

The latter of which would seem to be a prerequisite.

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

No bias here. An English driving academy questions whether bicyclists have a right to the road, while using AI slop to conjure a not-quite right image of a bicyclist riding on the road near a narrow bike path, accompanied by a couple paragraphs of AI written copy.

No bias here, either. An Irish bike lane is scheduled to be redesigned, or maybe removed, after drivers complained it was a pilot program “with no pilot,” and compared it to a “North Korean style” bike lane that left poor, afflicted motorists with nowhere to pull over if they had a flat or engine trouble, while making it impossible for two combine harvesters to pass one another, which must be a common problem there. Although some of those North Korean bike lanes look better than a lot of LA bike lanes. 

………

Local 

Eaton Fire recovery charity Lotus Rising LA will host a Lunar New Year bike ride this Saturday through Pasadena and Altadena to celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse.

 

State

Calbike is introducing their new line of bike-themed T-shirts and accessories. Some of them aren’t bad.

About damn time. San Diego is moving forward with a comprehensive plan to lower speed limits “around school zones, business corridors, key pedestrian and bicycle routes, and areas with a history of crashes.” Although in Los Angeles, that last clause could cover the entire city.

A Florida father is planning to ride across the country, from San Diego to the East Coast of Florida, to honor his sister who was killed on 9/11. With all due respect, though, riding across the country is hard, with countless unforeseen obstacles that can derail even the best plans — like when my brother was forced to ride out a tornado in a public restroom. So wake me when someone completes a ride, not when they’re planning one. 

Bike riders in San Francisco will highlight Black history and culture with a five-hour ride through the SoMa, Mission Bay and Bayview neighborhoods, culminating in a block party at the end of the ride.

Manteca has formally banned street takeovers by bicyclists, with a $1,000 fine if you’re caught participating, or a mandatory bike safety course and having their bike impounded for anyone under 16.

 

National

More than 1,100 organizations, including major bikemakers, sounded the alarm over funding cuts to bike and active transportation infrastructure, urging Congress to maintain current levels as it drafts the next national transportation bill.

Mountain Bike Action asks if a new drop bar ebike can erase the line between mountain and gravel bikes. Finally bringing this divided nation together. 

An enterprising 12-year old Bend, Oregon boy is detailing cars to raise money to buy his own ebike. You gotta applaud the spirit, even if kids that young shouldn’t be riding them — especially not throttle-controlled electric motorbikes. 

Sad news from Seattle, where a local TV station announced that a 14-year old spaniel has died, two years after he was the first dog to walk across a new pedestrian freeway overpass. No, really.

LV Sports Biz says Las Vegas paid $800,000 to a Henderson, Nevada firm for a Vision Zero study, but questions what difference that has actually made on the streets.

Over on the other coast, a 67-year old Connecticut man says the Watchman procedure has allowed him to get back on his bike, after 15 years on blood thinners. Yes, I know it’s a healthcare advertorial, but still. 

A New York bike club is suing the city over Central Park’s new 15 mph speed limit, calling it a real threat to active transportation.

 

International

Bike riders in Halifax, Nova Scotia complain that collisions are rising along with bike ridership, as the streets remain dangerous for people on two wheels.

A Welsh police captain has been forced to apologize after a “miscategorized” emergency call left an injured bike rider lying in a busy intersection for more than three hours before an ambulance arrived.

There may be dirty tricks afoot in London’s bikeshare wars, as dockless ebike firm Bolt is accusing its competitors of secretly moving the company’s bikes in the middle of the night to areas where they will get impounded by morning.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website busts a handful of ebike myths, starting with ebikes aren’t just for seniors and lazy people. Both of which could describe me these days. 

A British woman shares the highs and lows of her “magical” 6,214-mile bike ride across Africa, from Kigali, Rwanda to Cape Town, South Africa. Although getting chased by tsetse flies was probably one of the lows. 

New Zealand authorities are belatedly paving over a railroad track running through the middle of a bike path, after a 71-year old man suffered multiple injuries when his bike tire got caught in a rut.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a “Mensa reject” says you can avoid a ticket by putting your car’s license plate on the bike rack. Who needs an ebike when you’ve got an e-ski?

And nothing like pedaling a three-wheeled bike through the Moroccan desert loaded with 21 satellite dishes.

Or maybe on an artfully deconstructed and rearranged bike.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why car-centric Los Angeles isn’t Amsterdam and doesn’t need to be, and the traffic violence epidemic really is one

February 11, 2026 / / One comment

Last night, I tried to have a rational discussion with someone on Twitter/X who disagreed with me.

And was quickly reminded why that’s a bad idea.

Admittedly, I eventually lost my cool. Well, only if you consider telling someone to “eat shit” before blocking them losing your cool.

I don’t take kindly to someone trying to tell me who and what I am, and what I believe, without knowing anything about me other than some point the disagree with.

Or maybe they just find my whole existence disagreeable.

But the gist of the conversation, with someone who described himself as an active bicyclist, was A) Los Angeles isn’t Amsterdam, B) bike lanes allegedly slow traffic and hurt business, and C) this has always been a car-centric city and always will be.

Which is fine. He’s entitled to his opinion, just as I am to mine.

And he’s right, Los Angeles isn’t Amsterdam. Neither is Paris or Copenhagen. Only Amsterdam is Amsterdam, just like only LA is LA.

But that doesn’t mean a city can’t change.

Amsterdam wasn’t always what it is today. In the 60s, it was a car choked, traffic clogged mess, until people got tired of the endless toll of traffic deaths, and began the “Stop de Kindermoord” movement.

That is, stop murdering children with motor vehicles.

That was the beginning of a total reimagining of the city that made it one of the most walkable, bikeable cities in the world today, where driving is usually the last choice when other options aren’t practical.

The same is true with Copenhagen, at roughly the same time and for the same reasons.

Yet despite the assumptions of those who so casually throw out “this isn’t Amsterdam” as if it’s a trump card, those cities are far from unique. In just the last decade, we’ve seen Paris reinvent itself to be far more walkable and bikeable, utilizing the concept of the 15 Minute City.

And in just the last few years, we’ve seen London transform to the point that bikes often outnumber cars in the city center.

Even my Colorado hometown took a similar journey.

When I was a kid, there were no bike lanes. The first bike path, along the river through town, was built while I was away.

But as the city grew from 10,000 people when I was in grade school, to 25,000 in high school, to nearly 170,000 people today, it continued to sprawl and be built around cars, with the inevitable traffic and congestion, until the people there said “enough.”

Today it is a Platinum Level Bicycle Friendly Community, according to the League of American Bicyclists.

In other words, it changed, because the people who live there wanted it to. Boulder, about 45 minutes to the south, took a similar path.

Maybe those cities are outliers. Or maybe the only reason Los Angeles, and other similar cities, aren’t like that is that the people haven’t demanded it.

Yet.

His second argument was based on a basic fallacy.

He made the case that bike lanes that were installed, then removed, in Playa del Rey because they slowed traffic, and there weren’t enough bike riders to justify them.

Which was kind of the point.

They weren’t installed for our benefit. Making the city more bikeable and a little safer was only an added bonus, brief though it may have been.

They were installed as a tool to calm traffic, intended to slow cars and reduce traffic flow because of the unacceptable level of traffic collisions and deaths in the Playa community.

And while it’s possible that they may have initially hurt local businesses, repeated studies have shown that retail sales and tax receipts usually increase within a year or two after the installation of bike lanes — and the people who initially fought the lanes often later fight to keep them.

That didn’t happen in Playa, simply because they were never given the chance.

The final argument is also based on a fallacy.

Anyone who lived here in the ’30s or ’40s wouldn’t recognize the car-centric city we have devolved into. Los Angeles once had the best transit system in the country, with every neighborhood efficiently served by the Red and Yellow Cars.

Those were the trolley systems that once ran down the middle of every major roadway. But they were removed to make way for cars, resulting in the overly wide boulevards we have today.

Before that, the city’s roads were built and paved to accommodate bicycles, prior to the mass production of motor vehicles.

And before that, it was a city of dusty roads and trails for horses and wagons.

So the city has already reinvented how it gets around multiple times. And we can do it again if a majority of Angelenos want it.

Then again, the two-third majority who voted for Measure HLA would seem to suggest they do.

But what do I know?

Someone else responded to my comments about traffic violence by posting a link to this piece, which seems well researched, with a professorial tone, refuting the idea that there’s an epidemic of traffic violence.

I won’t get into the whole thing now — or probably ever — except to say that it, too, is based on a couple of basic fallacies, which like a butterfly flapping its wings on the other side of the world, sends the whole damn thing off in the wrong direction.

The concept of traffic violence was never intended to suggest that there is anything intentional about it. Simply put, traffic violence reflects the fact that crashes are violent events, which can inflict violent trauma to its victims.

And like other forms of violence, the causes can be addressed, and the effects minimized.

As for the idea that traffic violence, or traffic deaths, are an epidemic, that isn’t meant to suggest it has suddenly become so. Violent crashes and traffic deaths have been epidemic ever since the motor vehicle was invented.

They have simply been normalized, accepted as just an unfortunate side effect of getting from here to there, largely thanks to an organized campaign by the motoring industry a century ago that shifted blame to the victims.

Traffic deaths have always been too high. Calling them an epidemic now is merely a recognition of the problem.

It’s kind of like if measles had always been around, and no one ever bothered to do anything about it. Then one day, someone pointed a finger and called the problem an epidemic that could be treated.

One last point.

The writer of this piece suggests that the solution to safer streets isn’t separating bikes and pedestrians from motor vehicles, but for everyone to focus on sharing the road safely and efficiently.

I used to believe that, too.

I have often said that if everyone obeys the law, and share the road in a safe manner, that crashes are unlikely, if not impossible.

But that fails to account for human nature.

People will inevitably make mistakes, and do whatever is most convenient for them in the moment, largely because they’ve always gotten away with it before. And will continue to get away with it, until they don’t.

Which is the whole rationale for Vision Zero, based on the idea that human beings make mistakes, and roads should be designed so those human mistakes don’t become tragedies.

If you disagree with that, that’s fine. We should be able to disagree without being disagreeable, and find a consensus that works for the majority of people, while protecting the rights of the minority.

That’s how democracy works.

So disagree, vehemently if you must.

But try to keep the insults to a minimum. And I will, too.

Photo by Joni Yung.

………

Megan forwards the Meyer’s Brothers podcast, in which Danish actor, producer and screenwriter — and the Game of Thrones Jaime Lannister — Nikolaj Coster-Waldau reveals not only that he’s one of us, but that bicycling is his favorite form of transportation.

………

Local 

Los Angeles is building new connections to the Burbank-Chandler bicycling and walking path.

Andy Dick is one of us, riding his bike through the streets and sidewalks of Los Angeles after finishing a 50-day stint in rehab following a public drug overdose.

Streetsblog offers their usual outstanding list of bicycle and livable streets meetings and events. I know, I know, I should break out the bike stuff and repost it here, but I’m exhausted. Besides, they forgot to included our spokescorgi competing at the Winter Corgi Nationals at Santa Anita on Sunday. 

The Long Beach Post says the intersection where a 54-year old woman was killed riding her bike on Saturday has been a serious safety hazard for years.

 

State

This is the cost of traffic violence. Pacific Beach, the site of a recent hit-and-run that killed a six-year old boy riding a bike with his family, is mourning another hit-and-run victim after a popular restaurant worker was killed while walking home from work early Saturday morning; before moving to San Diego, Qwente “Q” Bryant lived and worked in Long Beach for years.

A San Mateo surgeon makes the case for why the US should redefine ebikes to conform to the European definition, limiting them to kids 15 and older, while redesigning roads to prevent tragedies like the one that killed one of his patients.

The Marin County Bicycle Coalition calls on the county to reopen an abandoned railroad tunnel, and refit it as a biking and walking path.

 

National

Hawaii is joining the long list of states cracking down on ebikes, with one resident telling lawmakers it’s become a Wild West,” with little kids “zipping out around a corner on the sidewalk with some high-speed motorized vehicle.”

In a doubly tragic case of Texas symmetry, two 16-year old bicyclists were struck by drivers while each was riding with a companion; one suffered life-threatening injuries, while the other sadly didn’t make it. In the second case, both rides were struck by the driver, while in the other, the victim was hit so hard his GPS showed him flying off his bike at nearly 78 mph after the impact.

In yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late, a 37-year old Louisiana man faces a number of charges after critically injuring a 63-year old bike rider who had stopped to fix his chain — including his 4th DUI. In any rational world, he would have been off the road after his second. If not the first.

Boston bicyclists form a shovel brigade to clear a bike path, after the city doesn’t.

New Yorkers continue to ride their bikes despite freezing their asses on in the city’s historic deep freeze.

 

International

Road.cc considers the best reflective bikewear and bicycling gear.

Momentum offers ten “enticing” V-Day activities for bike riders.

Off-Road.cc recommends the best gravel and adventure bikes for under the equivalent of $2,700, along with their picks for the best bikepacking frame bags.

A disabled Ontario man who uses his bicycle as a mobility device calls on cities to rethink their rules regarding bicycles, particularly bans on sidewalk riding with no exceptions for disabled riders.

Beloved children’s bikemaker Frog Bikes is entering the British equivalent of bankruptcy, exacerbated by Brexit.

Speaking of Road.cc, they recommend the steepest, hardest and most fearsome climbs for your bike bucket list, and travel to Mallorca to see if it’s as good for bicycling as it’s made out to be. Spoiler alert: yes, it is.

An Aussie ebike seller was busted for using fake compliance stickers to indicate that the illegally modified bikes he offered weren’t.

Finally…

Now your bicycling sunglasses can see behind you, too. If you encounter your cycling idol riding on the road, leave ’em the hell alone, already.

And when you’re riding your bike with illegal narcotics shoved into your shoes, socks and pants, put a damn light on it.

The bike, that is, not the drugs. Or the pants.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

LA Councilmember calls for action while another “reassesses,” this is LA’s darkest hour, and safe passing laws don’t work

February 10, 2026 / / No comments

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.

After writing about two fallen bike riders in a single night — never mind downing two doses of migraine medication — I was done. 

Maybe it goes back to when I started riding, and there weren’t that many of us.

But I feel like everyone I write about is my brother or sister, and every loss feels like a death in the family. 

My heart just can’t take writing about so many, so often. Let alone asking you to read it. 

And for that, I apologize as well. 

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay. 

………

That’s more like it.

Sort of.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that CD5 Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky called for immediate safety improvements in the wake of the 99 Ranch Market massacre, where an elderly driver killed three people crashing into the Westwood market after hitting a bike rider.

According to Linton,

At last Friday’s council meeting [video – remarks start minute 1:26], Yaroslavsky adjourned the meeting in remembrance of the Westwood crash victims. Yaroslavsky questioned, “Why does it feel like safety improvements take forever even after we know where the risks are?” She noted the current LADOT process for Westwood, pledging to accelerate, “I am calling on LADOT to return with an accelerated timeline for Westwood Boulevard – including immediate quick-build safety measures while longer term work continues.”

“We shouldn’t be waiting years for basic interventions while Angelenos die.”

Meanwhile, CD11 Councilmember Traci Park offered a typically weak-kneed call for “reassessment” after a seven-month pregnant mother of two was killed while riding a bike in Playa del Rey with her toddler son in the seat behind her.

The Playa del Rey killing also saw some response from its City Councilmember Traci Park. Via her email newsletter, Park stated she had visited the crash site and was working with city departments “to re-assess the area for additional lighting and speed safety improvements.” Park noted that bike improvements there were installed and removed in 2017, and that “it’s time to re-open that conversation.” She listed two bike/safety projects she is working on nearby.

The entire Playa del Rey area needs a lot more than a mere “reassessment” of Pershing Drive, where the crash occurred, as well as Manchester Blvd, which has been a frequent site of traffic violence, and Vista del Mar — aka Deadly del Mar —  the site of eight traffic deaths in just the last ten years.

………

In a must-read from Streets Are For Everyone founder Michael Schneider, he responds to the needless traffic deaths Play del Rey and the 99 Ranch Market, calling it LA’s darkest hour.

All of this is in the context of the city being beyond broke. Part of the reason is a record number of liability payouts due to people getting hurt on city infrastructure that the city knows is dangerous but hasn’t fixed or won’t fix. Additionally, the city continues to slow walk Measure HLA implementation — the exact kind of implementation that would make streets safer.

As a safe streets advocate, it’s hard not to take it personally when someone dies while walking or biking in the city, because I often walk or bike around the city, often with my kids. Living in a city where a pedestrian is injured every 5 hours and killed every 2 days is deeply painful. To have two horrific crashes claim lives on streets that the city was supposed to make safer — but hasn’t yet, or even worse, backtracked after installing safety improvements — is beyond the pale.

Meanwhile, LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who is running for re-election this year, puts the deaths in their proper context.

………

No surprise here.

A new Aussie study shows that safe passing laws don’t really work, because — wait for it — drivers don’t follow them.

The country requires a minimum of roughly three feet, and roughly four and a half feet on roads with speed limits over 44 mph. Which might actually keep bicyclists safe if drivers didn’t keep violating it.

Instead, researchers recommended infrastructure improvements like protected bike lanes, traffic calming and more road space, which would do a lot more to improve safety for people on two wheels.

………

If you need a good laugh, the Desert Sun says a driver and an 18-year old on a bicycle “collided into each other in Cathedral City,” but only the kid on the the bicycle got hurt.

Never mind that the kid got right hooked. Or that it’s almost always the person on two wheels who gets injured, rather than the person surrounded with a couple tons of steel and glass, seat belts and air bags.

Or on second thought, maybe it’s really not that funny at all.

………

Okay, so why is Caltrans refusing to make a lousy three blocks in Santa Monica safer for bike riders?

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/2020562040075821418

………

They get it.

https://twitter.com/heybikela/status/2020950735048020448

………

Streets For All is hiring.

………

First, they confiscate the bicycles.

German soldiers with rifles confiscate bicycles in front of the Royal Palace on Dam Square, Amsterdam, early April 1945(see ALT-text for more info)📷Ad Windig

— Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T20:16:02.353Z

………

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

Advocates in Iowa call a proposed bill that would ban bikes on most public roadways “the most anti-biking bill in history;” the good news is that backlash from bicyclists helped drive a stake through its heart.

No bias here. The head of London’s Licensed Taxi Drivers Association launched into a tirade blaming the “white, middle-class cycling lobby” for a proposal that actually came from a representative for Lime to time traffic lights so they create a “green wave” for bicyclists.

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

Although you could make the case that the kids were just “liberating” the 101 Freeway, dangerous and illegal though it may be.

Speaking of bad behavior, Strava has deleted millions of KOMs because people cheated by using ebikes and cars.

………

Local 

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an adaptive bike from a nine-year old Los Feliz kid with Down syndrome and autism; a crowdfunding campaign to replace it has surpassed the modest $7,000 goal by over $2,000.

The LA Bureau of Engineering will host a virtual meeting this evening to consider the Glendale Hyperion Bridge Improvement Project, intended to improve earthquake resilience, restore the bridge’s historical appearance, and improve circulation and safety for people driving, biking, walking and rolling.

Advocacy group Santa Monica Spoke and SaMo city staff will host a guided bike ride highlighting recent First/Last Mile safety improvements in the Bergamot Area this Sunday.

 

State

A coalition of San Diego transit and bicycling advocates is asking the city to improve access for people who don’t drive, rather than fighting with drivers who don’t want to pay for parking.

Palm Springs secured nearly $900,000 in increasingly rare federal funding to build a safe pathway to get people to the new CV Link bike and walking path.

Bicyclists fought to save San Mateo’s Humbolt Street bike lanes at last week’s city council meeting — which were threatened by drivers who wanted more free curbside parking — and won.

Sad news from Marin County, where a bike rider was killed when they were struck by a driver in a massive SUV. But at least the driver stuck around and tried to do CPR.

 

National

CyclingSavvy offers advice on how to avoid predawn crashes.

Good advice. If you find yourself in Seattle and are planning to go to the Seahawks victory parade, ride your bike. And if you’re in New England, feel free to ride your bike anyway.

A Phoenix man says he hit and killed a woman riding a bike because he fell asleep behind the wheel, then apparently fled the scene and drove home without waking up — but swears he’d trade his life for hers. The problem with that it’s always too late once someone feels that way. 

A bike thief in Las Cruces, New Mexico was shot and killed after engaging in a gunfight with an off-duty cop who tried to stop him.

Hats off to the crew of Albuquerque Fire Engine 11, who not only took a bike rider who fell off his bike to the hospital, but also gave his bike a safe ride home.

My bike-friendly Colorado hometown will join cities across the country in celebrating Winter Bike to Work Day this Friday. Although a certain bike-unfriendly SoCal megalopolis we could name won’t be participating, despite having some of the country’s best winter weather. 

Chicago is hosting the city’s 28th annual Bike Winter Art Show, with bicycle-themed art that that doesn’t ignore local and national issues.

A Chicago chef is back to cooking, two and a half years after a collision while riding his bike left him on the brink of death.

A Massachusetts woman has figured out a way to get drivers attention that works a hell of a lot better than hi-viz, riding her bike topless, albeit with pasties, to make the case that women should be allowed to shed their tops just like guys do. All titillation aside — pun intended — there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be able to. Period.

A kindhearted North Carolina cop gave a seven-year old boy a new bicycle after he had two bikes stolen in just months. And perhaps more importantly, gave him a lock, too.

A Florida man faces charges for hit-and-run after injuring someone on a bicycle, then abandoning his truck in a creek; he was already on probation vehicle theft, drug possession and failing to appear, and had an active warrant for skipping out on his sentencing for a DUI case. Sounds like a prince.

 

International

Travel + Leisure calls Mexico’s 1,700-mile Baja Divide Trail one of biking’s best kept secrets.

A British Columbia writer says his wife was seriously hurt in a collision with a driver while riding her bike, but she was one of the lucky ones.

A writer for The Independent goes bikepacking on Scotland’s “stunning” National Bike Network. And encounters a massive bicycle sculpture, complete with bike rack and U-lock.

London’s Cycling Mikey may be the city’s most hated and controversial bicyclist for using his helmet cam to keep drivers honest, and turning them into the cops when they’re not. Although video evidence generally isn’t accepted for traffic violations and misdemeanors in this country.

Bike Radar says there are still three performance bike brands being made in the UK.

Dublin will test out letting bike riders make the equivalent of right on red, in a country where drivers can’t. But only when it’s safe.

An Irish man rode over 1,860 miles from Ireland to Australia, traveling across three continents and 28 countries.

Australian bicyclists say a crucial Sydney bicycling route has become a nightmare since the city’s new Fish Market opened, forcing bike riders to compete for space with crowds spilling over from the market.

 

Competitive Cycling…

Meta talks with Olympian and pro cyclist Kate Courtney.

The Athletic profiles Sepp Kuss, calling him the “best American cyclist of his generation.” Although that one may be hidden behind a paywall. 

Elvis star Austin Butler will play America’s favorite seven-time ex-Tour de France champ in a new biopic. ‘Cause he ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog. Lance, that is. 

Three-time Tour de France champ Chris Froome was lucky to escape unharmed when an impatient hit-and-run driver totaled his bike.

Jonas Vingegaard “lost the man who mentored him to grand tour superstardom,” after his longtime cycling coach Tim Heemskerk left the Visma-Lease a Bike team “with immediate effect.”

Colombian track cyclist Martha Bayona Pineda has been banned for 18 months for failing to report her whereabouts, but hasn’t failed any actual drug tests.

A Zimbabwean mountain biker says who needs toes, anyway?

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can get coaching from an actual knight. Now your kid can make the Costco run with their very own cargo balance bike.

And when you’re drunk as a skunk, maybe don’t yell at a cop ticketing a driver as you ride by on your bike. Or run over a bike cop’s bicycle with your car, for that matter.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Update: 36-year old woman and unborn baby killed riding ebike on Pershing Drive in Playa del Rey, where bike lanes removed in 2017

February 2, 2026 / / 10 comments

Apparently, last month isn’t done with us yet. And it ends with perhaps the worst news of all.

After a month that had already seen seven people lose their lives riding a bicycle in Southern California, you can add two more to the tragic toll.

And one wasn’t even born yet.

According to a crowdfunding campaign, 36-year old Regan Cole-Graham died after being struck by a driver while riding a bicycle with her husband and two kids this past Saturday.

She was seven months pregnant.

Her unborn daughter survived another day before dying in the NICU at UCLA Children’s Hospital on Sunday.

What appears to be an AI generated site offers information that appears to come from the police report, placing the crash around 6 pm on Pershing Drive in Playa del Rey. A mobile app places it around the corner at 451 E. Manchester Ave at 6:02 pm.

Meanwhile a witness on Reddit says the crash occurred directly in front of the Hacienda Playa restaurant on Pershing.

According to the AI site above, Cole-Graham was pronounced dead on arrival after being taken to a hospital.

There’s no details on how the crash occurred, though the same site says she was riding an ebike. The driver remained at the scene.

Sadly, that’s exactly where bike lanes were installed in 2017 after a years-long community process, only to be removed following complaints from drivers used to zooming along the street.

It’s impossible to know whether this tragedy could have been prevented if the bike lanes were still there. But their removal will almost certainly mean Los Angeles will be liable for her death.

The GoFundMe describes Cole-Graham as “…a loving & devoted wife, a fierce & joyful mother, a hilarious & loyal sister, and a beautiful, fiery daughter.”

As of this writing, the site has raised more than $134,000 to pay for funeral expenses and help her husband and kids with their future, while the goal has been raised to $210,000.

These are the eighth and ninth bicycling fatalities that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, the fourth and fifth in Los Angeles County, and the second and third reported in the City of Los Angeles.

Update: At least now we know what happened.

According to Fox-11, Regan Cole-Graham and her husband were both riding ebikes, with their two sons strapped into the child seats on their bikes. And yes, they were all wearing helmets.

Not that it would have helped under the circumstances.

An 87-year old driver ran down Cole-Graham from behind, knocking her into the street, where he ran over her with his sedan. Her three-year old son remained strapped into his seat as the car pushed her bike down the street, suffering minor injuries.

The driver remained at the scene; police do not think he was under the influence.

According to CBS News,

Yuda Zweda witnessed the incident and says that she briefly spoke with the man afterwards.

“The only thing he really said, ‘Please pray that she survives,'” Zweda said.

People who live in the area say that the intersection is dimly lit and dangerous for pedestrians.

“They put in some speed bumps down there and flashing lights, but I still just don’t think people seem to notice,” said one resident.

Ashley Saglie, described as a friend of the victim, expounded on that.

“I think a lot needs to change. I think there needs to be better lighting, I think there needs to be an expanded bike path,” Saglie said.

Never mind that there was a briefly bike lane on Pershing Drive, right where the crash happened, less than nine years earlier.

According to the California Post, the new West Coast edition of Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, Cole-Graham was an executive with Google’s LA office.

Cole-Graham had worked for Google in Los Angeles since 2019, where she served as Consumer Marketing Lead and later Brand Partnerships Lead and orchestrated a multi-million dollar partnership with Live Nation among other deals, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Before that, she worked as a Senior Product Marketing Manager for AT&T and marketing manager at DirecTV, where her father also worked as an executive and helped her get her first job after she graduated from San Diego State University, her family’s lawyer said.

According to the Post, her husband described her as an “amazing wife” and “the world’s best mother.”

Brian Breiter, the attorney for the family, commented on the tragedy, as well as questioning why the man who hit her was still driving.

This is the hardest time anyone could imagine, and I just want them to be together. Imagine a three year old little boy and an 18 month old child witnessing that?” Breiter continued.

“And then, of course, their unborn sister, who survived in the NICU but unfortunately didn’t make it.”

Breiter said he’s reviewed horrific footage showing the crash, which remains under investigation by authorities.

He noted the driver’s age at that “at some point it times to take the keys away” from some people.

Which is exactly why I keep bringing it up.

Meanwhile, the crowdfunding page for her husband and sons has raised nearly $200,000 of the $210,000 goal.

Update 2: Cole-Graham’s husband has been identified as Matthew Graham, a writer for Sports Illustrated, who was also one of the founders of USA Today’s For The Win. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Regan Cole-Graham, her unborn baby, and all their family and loves ones. 

Thanks to Joe, Richard, Oren and Madeline for their help in piecing this together. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , ,

Nearly a death a year on Vista del Mar, no statute of limitations for CA hit-and-runs, and fight fed cuts to active transportation

March 24, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 83 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s even worse than we realized.

Last week, I mentioned that at least five people have been killed on Vista del Mar since former Mayor Eric Garcetti ripped out the road diet that was installed in 2017, after Los Angeles shelled out nearly $10 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of a 16-year old girl crossing over to the beach.

Now it turns out, according to LADOT, another 14 people were killed along Vista del Mar from 2003 to 2016.

That’s 19 lives needlessly lost in less than 23 years on the short, four-mile roadway, thanks a wide four-lane design that makes the seemingly bucolic beachfront street a virtual speedway for anyone with a heavy foot.

Yes, an average of nearly one death a year.

So maybe the three-county PCH isn’t SoCal’s killer highway after all, at least on a per-mile basis.

………

About damn time.

Somehow, we missed the news last year that the California legislature passed Carson Assemblymember Mike Gibson’s bill to eliminate the statute of limitations for hit-and-run.

AB 2984, named for the three-year old son of Gibson’s wife, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver 36 years ago, was signed by Gov. Gaven Newsom and is now law.

Which means the driver, who was never caught, could now be prosecuted if they ever find them.

Along with all the other heartless cowards who think they’ve gotten away with it, in a state where the overwhelming majority of hit-and-run drivers are never caught, let alone tried.

Gipson also sponsoring a bill in the current session that would require that drivers convicted of reckless driving install intelligent speed limitation systems in their cars, similar to how a breathalyzer can be required for drunk drivers.

Which is also about damn time.

………

This is exactly what I’ve been warning about.

Whatever your politics, cuts to funding for active transportation puts your safety, and everyone else’s, at risk.

So fight back.

Meanwhile, several states have banded together under the Clean Rides Network to find ways to fund projects the feds have abandoned.

And yes, California is one of them.

………

Streets For All is hosting a virtual lunch tomorrow with Dr. Ian Walker, who they describe as “an Environmental Psychologist who studies motonormativity – the shared bias that prevents us from judging motorized transportation rationally.”

………

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

Once again, someone appears to be deliberately sabotaging a bike trail, as a volunteer group warns about shards of barbed wire intentionally placed on Sacramento’s American River Parkway; so far, the only damage is flat tires, but someone could easily be seriously injured as a result of a blown tire.

A woman in Houston, Texas says a road-raging driver tried to intentionally ram her as she road her ebike, then yelled obscenities and attempted to provoke a confrontation when she tried to take a photo of the driver’s license plate; police say they are investigating.

No bias here. A writer for The Telegraph accuses “rich, Lycra-clad cyclists” of tearing through red lights while riding “hugely expensive” bikes paid for by taxpayers as part of Britain’s Cycle to Work rebate program, as if getting well-off people out of cars and onto bikes somehow doesn’t benefit everyone. Let alone all the not-so-well off people who have also benefitted.

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

A Miami cop has been disciplined for sitting on her ass while a dispute between a bicyclist and a motorist devolved into a full-on assault on the driver by bike riders taking part in an apparent rideout, remaining in her patrol car while the riders “kicked, punched, stomped, smashed a window and even hurled a bike” at the victim’s car.

………

Local  

City Watch looks forward to April 6th’s Koreatown Meets Hollywood CicLAvia.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reviews the documents, and says it will probably be up to a judge to determine whether Measure HLA, which requires that the city build out the mobility plan whenever streets get resurfaced, applies to Metro.

The former South Bay Bicycle Coalition, now known as SBBC+, offers a community proposal to reconfigure Redondo Beach’s Prospect Ave as a Complete Street.

A new play in Long Beach looks at life through the eyes of a child riding a red bicycle.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department is offering a $30,000 reward for the men who shot and killed Jose Manuel Rangel, following a confrontation on the Clara Street Bridge in Cudahy two years ago as he rode his bike home after visiting his mother.

 

State

Calbike has come out in opposition to AB 612, which would give fire departments more power to veto street safety projects, despite their obvious lack of traffic engineering training; as we’ve seen, fire fighters often oppose projects designed to save lives, citing unspecified delays in response times that are seldom born out in real life.

No bias here. The San Diego Union-Tribune questions whether it makes sense to pursue the city’s “preposterous” climate goals, arguing that its commitment to building transit and bike lanes is an “embrace of what feels like costly and empty virtue signaling.”

San Francisco becomes the first California city to install speed cams under a pilot program allowing a limited number in three Northern California and three South California cities, as well as on PCH in Malibu. Meanwhile, Los Angeles continues to sit on its ass and do nothing, as usual, as speed-related deaths continue to mount. 

 

National

A writer for The Atlantic sings the praises of ebikes, saying they may be slower than a car, but make your family life so much richer; meanwhile, another writer says they’re great, but not for everyone.

Bloomberg sings the praises of the late, great autodidact and polymath Lewis Mumford, who called out the dangers of overly car-centric cities over 70 years ago.

Take your dog or cat with you everywhere with a new $300 combination pet stroller/bike trailer that converts to a backpack. Hopefully without the animal in it.

Houston lawmakers decide to reinvent the wheel, sponsoring a bill to study whether bike lanes improve safety, as if all the other studies showing they do somehow don’t apply in Texas.

Maine’s highest court has sided with a 62-year old man who was ticketed for not riding single file as he was out with a friend, ruling that the state’s requirement to ride as far to the right as practicable is so vague it’s unenforceable, since only the person riding can decide how far to the right is safe to ride.

Seriously? A Boston cafe owner worries about the survival of her business after a new road diet and bike lanes were installed, as if being located on one of the city’s most dangerous streets for pedestrians is somehow good for her business.

 

International

No surprise here, as the world’s happiest countries are also places with the highest bicycling rates.

A writer for Momentum shares the most important things she learned on her first bike tour.

Bike Magazine shares the world’s ten most popular mountain biking destinations for your offroad bike bucket list.

Hundreds of Londoners turned out for the return of a drum and bass bicycle rave, led by a bicycling DJ and his cat.

More proof that bikes are good for business, as a rural Scottish cafe catering to bicyclists says if they didn’t they wouldn’t even be in business anymore.

A rising British comedian warns about the dangers of drunken bicycling after crashing his bikeshare bike while riding under the influence.

Life is cheap in Ireland, where a 29-year old mother of three will spend just four years behind bars for the hit-and-run death a 68-year old man riding a bicycle, while driving at not one, not two, not even three times the legal alcohol limit, but a full nine times over the line — yes, nine — after downing a dozen martinis before getting behind the wheel.

Famed painter Henri Matisse’s brother-in-law was one of us, as the struggling artist tried to borrow 150 francs to buy a Van Gogh in 1899, only to learn the other man had blown 500 francs on a new bicycle.

A 66-year-old Chinese grandmother has already biked solo through 12 countries across three continents, on a monthly pension of just $414 a month, despite taking up bicycling just a dozen years ago.

Bike riders in Sydney, Australia may soon have fewer stair to climb, with a $39 million ramp longer than two football fields replacing the stairs they’re currently forced to climb if they want to bike across the harbor.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch pro Mathieu van der Poel won Milan-San Remo after an early attack by Tadej Pogačar failed, leading to a three-way sprint to the finish joined by Filippo Ganna.

A British company plans to bring the world’s best cyclists back to the US next year for the first time since 2019, the five-stage Tour of Colorado will launch in September, assuming they can get all the necessary permits and clearances, and get it on the pro calendar.

 

Finally….

Your next bike seat could play grab-ass while you ride. Your next bicycle could be a knitting machine; thanks to Steven Hallett for the heads-up.

And build a custom bike for the tallest man in America, and make a friend for life.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

NM kids face murder in death of bike-riding scientist; killer Playa street claims fresh victim; Metro threatens suit to prevent safer streets

March 20, 2025 / / Comments Off on NM kids face murder in death of bike-riding scientist; killer Playa street claims fresh victim; Metro threatens suit to prevent safer streets

This is getting old.

Nearly two weeks in, I’m still struggling with Covid, and need a few more days before I get back to our usual updates. Just another of the many joys of diabetes, which can make Covid hit harder and last longer than it might otherwise.

Hopefully, we’ll be back on Monday to catch up on what we missed.

But there are a few stories this week that can’t really wait, so let’s do a quick update in the meantime.

………

It’s happened again.

Or rather, it happened last year, and the authorities are just now catching up.

According to multiple sources, three Albuquerque teenagers face charges for stealing a car, and intentionally crashing it into a man riding a bicycle while they recorded themselves laughing.

And if that sounds familiar, it should. And more than once.

The victim, a beloved physicist at the nearby Sandia National Laboratory, was killed when the kids “bumped” him with the car.

The 13-year old driver and the 16-year old egging them on from the back seat both face murder charges — as could the 11-year old waving a gun and laughing from the passenger seat.

Yes, I said eleven. With a rap sheep of violent crimes that makes John Gotti seem like an extra from Westside Story.

Apparently, New Mexico law allows them to be publicly named, and charged as adults.

Police became aware of the video shortly after the May 29, 2024, murder of 63-year old Scott Habermehl, but it apparently took until now to uncover the identities of his teen and preteen killers.

Habermehl was a dedicated bike commuter who was said to have ridden more than a quarter million miles over the last 30 years, and did absolutely nothing to cause his death.

The older teens each face felony charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death, and unlawful possession of a handgun.

The younger boy is likely to join them.

Thanks to Joel Falter for the heads up. 

……….

It’s happened again, again.

Because once again, an innocent person has been killed on Vista del Mar in Playa del Rey, eight years after then Councilmember Mike Bonin tried to fix the deadly street, only to have then Mayor Eric Garcetti rip it out after caving to angry pass-through drivers.

According to the Los Angeles Times, two cars — excuse me, drivers — collided in the 8200 block of southbound Vista del Mar, near Dockweiler Beach, with one car spilling over the embankment and killing a woman walking below.

Twentynine-year old Cecilia Milbourne died at the scene. A 70-something man also suffered minor injuries.

The crash occurred exactly where a road diet had been installed by Bonin after the city paid $9.5 million to the family of 16-year old Naomi Larson, who was killed by a cab driver as she was crossing the street in 2015.

That road diet was removed, along with other nearby bike lanes and other safety improvements, when Garcetti pulled the rug out from under Bonin, ordering them to be ripped out to appease drivers who were apparently willing to sacrifice a life or two if it meant they could have a little faster commute.

And reverting the road to a four lane speedway.

It only took a few years after that before the deadly roadway claimed another life. And two more after that.

Now, after another woman has been killed — at least the fifth in just ten years — that blood is on Garcetti’s hands, and everyone who demanded the removal of the safety improvements just so they could continue to go “zoom! zoom!”, innocent victims be damned.

Not to mention whoever designed the damn thing.

………

Metro has bizarrely come out against bus lanes and safer streets.

According to a post from Streets For All, the ostensibly safety-oriented county transportation agency is threatening to sue if they are forced to comply with Measure HLA when they make changes to the streets.

Even though the law clearly applies to any significant street projects, regardless of who is responsible for them.

Which is kind of like Metro arguing that speed limits and traffic signals don’t apply to them, either.

Here’s how Streetsblog’s Joe Linton responded to Metro’s threat.

So, Metro will fight the city in order not to install bus lanes, bike lanes, crosswalks, curb ramps, all approved a decade ago.

Metro is blocking routine upgrades to all the ways their riders get to bus stops and rail stations, plus blocking bus lane facilities that would improve Metro bus speeds.

Really.

Really, indeed.

It’s worth noting that Metro’s board is made up of elected officials and appointees from cities throughout LA County, and led by board chair and County Supervisor Janice Hahn.

So you know where to direct your anger.

………

Finally, Glendale is hosting their own CicLAvia-style open streets event May 31st on South Glendale Ave, in conjunction with Metro and Community Arts Resources (CARS).

Here’s how the press release describes it:

GLENDALE, Calif. (March 18, 2025) — Southern California’s newest open streets event, Let’s Go Glendale, will transform a portion of S Glendale Ave into a car-free space on Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The community is invited to explore the area on foot, bike, scooter, wheelchair or any other way that moves you.

The City of Glendale’s Open Streets Event, Let’s Go Glendale, is presented by Metro and produced by Community Arts Resources (CARS). This free day features a full schedule of carefully curated performances and activities along a meaningful vehicle-free route through the city’s south. People of all ages are invited to discover local businesses, enjoy delicious food, listen to live music and connect with the city’s vibrant cultures in the open streets. It’s an opportunity to walk, roll, shop and stroll through Glendale with a whole new perspective! A full schedule of event locations, activations and a detailed route map will be announced in April.

WHEN: Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

WHERE: City streets along S Glendale Ave will be closed to car traffic and opened to pedestrians. Full route details will be released soon.

ADMISSION: This event is free to attend and open to the public.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information visit, letsgoglendale.com

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Two teens killed in crash where Vista Del Mar road diet removed, and elderly driver plows through a dozen French school kids

June 6, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 208 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the city’s mean streets.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re up to 1,190 signatures, so don’t stop now! Let’s get it up to 1,200 before I send it to the mayor’s office!

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

………

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

Back in 2019, a four-year old girl was tragically killed by a driver as she crossed the street in Koreatown, while holding hands with her mother.

In a crosswalk. With the light.

Alessa Fajardo and her mom did everything right as they crossed Olympic at Normandie that October day, yet she died anyway. Even though Los Angeles officials knew long before about the dangers of that area and intersection.

In fact, the school they were going to was ranked the city’s 13th most dangerous campus just six years earlier, while Koreatown as a whole was rated LA’s fourth most dangerous neighborhood for bike riders and pedestrians.

That’s pedestrians, like little kids crossing the street with their mothers.

It took four-and-a-half years, and a $9.6 million dollar settlement before anything was done about it.

Los Angeles Times reporter Ryan Fonseca took a deep dive into why.

Starting with the problem of each city councilmember acting like little kings in their own districts, responsible for identifying and approving any improvements before they are made.

Or not.

Neither former District 10 Councilmember Herb Wesson, who represented the district when Alessa was killed, nor his successor, Mark Ridley-Thomas, secured that funding. Ridley-Thomas was indicted on federal corruption charges, suspended from the council and later convicted and removed from his seat in late March 2022. Nobody represented the district until Heather Hutt was appointed that September.

Hutt identified and allocated $530,000 for the new signals in June 2023, but the installation work did not begin until April 2024, four months after the family’s suit against the city was settled.

District 10 staff would not comment on the record about why they could not secure the funds in 2020, 2021, 2022 and early 2023.

No surprise there.

Then again, even on the rare occasions when councilmembers really do try to do something, angry motorists too often rush for their torches and pitchforks — and threats of recall elections.

Tuesday night, two teenagers were killed, and three people seriously injured, in a head-on collision on Vista Del Mar in Playa del Rey.

And if that sounds familiar, it should.

Two years before little Alessa was killed in Koreatown, the city agreed to another $9.6 million settlement, this time with the family of a 16-year old girl killed crossing — wait for it — Vista Del Mar to get to her car after leaving Dockweiler Beach.

The same beach where the kids were killed on Tuesday.

Then-CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin responded by ordering long-delayed safety improvements on Vista Del Mar, and a handful of other streets in Playa del Rey. Both because too many lives had already been lost on the deadly roadway, and because the next settlement, for the next inevitable death, would be exponentially higher.

Yet the resulting lane reductions and bike lanes were unceremoniously ripped out weeks later on the orders of then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, after angry residents and pass-through drivers from Manhattan Beach rose up in anger — aided by angry rants from conservative KFI shock jocks John and Ken.

Hence that failed recall, as well as a lawsuit from anti-urbanist group Fix the City.

It only took another four years before there was blood on Garcetti’s hands, and all those who chose their own convenience over the lives of others.

Now just three years after that, two more people have needlessly lost their lives on that same bloody stretch of road. And despite a breathless report from Fox-11, police reports said there was no indication either driver was under the influence.

Never mind that the settlement for this one will likely be exponentially higher than the last one, since Los Angeles installed, then removed, safety improvements that might have prevented it.

Yet despite at least four deaths on the same section of roadway in just nine years, some people still seem to think they should have the unfettered, God-given right to go zoom zoom whenever and wherever they want, innocent lives be damned.

If you want to know why we can’t manage to do anything about the ever-rising rate of needless deaths on our streets, that’s it.

And it would be nice if our current mayor and council would somehow show they actually gave a damn, since the previous ones clearly didn’t.

………

Once again, a car was a weapon of mass destruction, when an elderly driver plowed through a group of 12 schoolchildren at a French resort.

Three of the kids were critically injured when the 83-year old driver hit them head-on as they rode single file, leaving the children screaming in terror and pain amid their mangled bikes.

She was arrested at the scene, then released and taken to a hospital after police concluded she wasn’t in a “fit state” for questioning.

………

Speaking of deadly roadways, here’s your chance to fight for bike lanes on PCH in Long Beach.

………

No surprise that a town known for wealthy, entitled NIMBYs would choose to prioritize their convenience over the lives of bike riders.

………

Bike Culver City offers a full schedule of bike events this month, including a screening of mobility justice leader Yolanda Davis-Overstreet two short film docuseries on Biking While Black on the 13th.

https://twitter.com/BikeCulverCity/status/1798102948452651350

………

It’s now 168 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

For a change, though, California wasn’t the only state whose competency was question, after Minnesota’s planned ebike rebate program was called off for now when the website crashed within minutes of launching.

………

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

Police in Surrey, England released video of a violent attack on a bike rider, who was knocked off his bike by two “masked thugs” on a motorbike while riding on a bike path.

One of the UK’s leading young women’s cyclists is out of this year’s Tour of Britain after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver; Kate Richardson was on a training ride when she was knocked off her bike by the impatient driver, who came back to verbally abuse her before driving off again.

 

A man in Cork, Ireland was irate after a driver pulled over directly in front of him in a bike lane to chat with a friend on the sidewalk, while he was riding uphill with two kids on his cargo bike.

Campaigning for the European Parliament, a Dublin, Ireland politician went on a “jaw dropping,” “reactionary” anti-bike lane rant, in which she compare them to a Berlin Wall dividing the city in two.

A bike rider in Brussels, Belgium is lucky to be alive after he was knocked off his bike by a driver who tried to pass him and his companion while driving in a clearly marked bike lane, then the enraged motorist got out and slashed the victim’s throat with a knife; the victim managed to escape with just six stitches when the driver barely missed his jugular.

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

A New York rabbi suffered a broken leg when he was struck by a rogue, salmon-riding hit-and-run ebiker as he was crossing a bike lane.

Residents of Glasgow, Scotland called for food delivery ebike riders to be required to wear identifiable numbers on their backs, as a result of a number of collisions and near misses. You know, sort of like prison inmates, but without having to be convicted of anything.

A couple of teen ebike riders naturally got the blame after they quarreled with a “crew of cranky elderly” Aussies — even though the reporter admitted he had no idea what the discussion was about or who caused it.

………

Local 

Streets For All urges support for a proposed 28-mile The Hill to Sea transit corridor traversing 13 cities and unincorporated communities from Pasadena to Long Beach, which would “aggressively reduce car dependency by prioritizing high quality bus service, safe protected bike paths, and improved sidewalks for walking and businesses.”

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton asks what’s next for Measure HLA as Los Angeles continues to slow walk new bus and bike lanes.

Urbanize LA has more details on the planned Complete Streets makeover of Hollywood Blvd, with bike lanes scheduled to be on the ground next year.

Los Angeles is building more than four miles of bike and pedestrian corridors in South LA west of the USC campus.

Glendale is delaying a planned Complete Streets makeover of La Crescenta Ave to search for additional funding, after initial estimates came in over budget.

 

State

Orange County supervisors voted to crackdown on ebikes, including restrictions on sidewalk riding, imposing speed limits and reclassifying bikes that generate more than 750 watts through their motors — even though the latter two could put them in direct conflict with existing state law.

Police in Cathedral City released a description of the suspect vehicle in the hit-and-run death of a bike rider last month; they’re looking for a dark-colored 2014-2019 Nissan Versa with major front-end damage, as well as missing parts.

A 52-year old bike rider in Apple Valley was airlifted for treatment after suffering major injuries when the victim was rear-ended by a driver on Monday.

A Heyward man was sentenced to nine years behind bars after pleading no contest to vehicular manslaughter and hit and run in the death of a 52-year old man riding a bicycle while driving a stolen car.

 

National

CleanTechnica sings the praises of Bike Index for registering your bike, which you can do right here for free, for life.

Bloomberg talks with University of Colorado-Denver professor Wesley Marshall about his new book, Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System; he’s the one who did a study several years back showing drivers and bicyclists break the law at the same rate — but bike riders do it for perceived safety, while drivers do it for their convenience.

Colorado took a step forward by creating a dedicated $7 million funding stream for “proven small infrastructure projects that improve safety for vulnerable road users,” such as bike lanes, sidewalks and other pedestrian improvements. While that’s far too little — even for a relatively small state — it’s a hell of a lot more than most are willing to commit to.

A Tulsa, Oklahoma man faces charges after he led police on a chase while driving on a bike and pedestrian pathway.

Police in Missouri are continuing to look for the SUV driver who nearly hit a man riding his bike, causing him to fall over a guardrail and down an embankment, where he lay in pain yelling for help for 13 hours.

Lawmakers in Michigan want to increase the penalties for drivers who strike vulnerable road users, while tightening the rules for who is considered one.

Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev underwent successful surgery to repair an undisclosed issue resulting from an electric motorbike crash last week, as media sources continued to misidentify it as an ebike.

The Washington Post belatedly discovers bike buses can provide a viable alternative to the standard SUV school run.

Sad news from DC, where a 34-year old White House staffer was killed while riding his bike when he crossed the center line on a sharp curve during a fundraising ride, and was struck head-on by an oncoming motorist; Jacob Thomas Brewer was the husband of Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham.

 

International

Momentum explains why bicycles are the perfect vehicle for the 15-minute city, while offering policies to help your city go Dutch.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says forget talk about the “golden age” of bicycling, when there were ten times the number of bicyclists killed in the UK in 1950 compared to now.

A group of Queensland, Australia researchers consider what can be done about the bad weather, hills and dark nights that keep people from bicycling, particularly women. Ebikes can easily flatten the hills, but can’t help with the dark or bad weather.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling reports the annual Red Bull Rampage freeride mountain bike competition will finally welcome women as something other than spectators. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

People Magazine wants to catch you up on what’s happening with America’s best-known ex-Tour de France winner. But fails to explain why anyone should give a damn. 

Huh? Twenty-five-year old Australian cyclist Robert Stannard received a four-year ban for “abnormalities” in his biological passport, with the ban backdated to 2018. Which is pretty much the same as no ban at all.

Former pro Peter Sagan takes the party on the water in a new beer ad.

 

Finally…

Why spend thousands on a gravel bike, when you can do the Gravel Unbound on a Walmart cruiser? Who the hell would steal a Penny Farthing?

And Hitch was one of us.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Blood on Garcetti’s hands as hit-and-run driver murders mom on Vista Del Mar, and big pickups blind drivers to little kids

September 13, 2021 / / One comment

We knew it was going to happen.

Just four years after a road diet was unceremoniously ripped out on deadly Vista Del Mar, a mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver while carrying her three-year old son.

And immediately, local residents jumped in to demand that something be done to stop the street’s speeding drivers.

Like this man who was quoted by KCBS-2.

A day after the tragic incident, some neighbors are saying that something needs to be done about people speeding down Vista Del Mar.

“Nobody respects the speed limit here,” said a neighbor Adolfo Navarro. “I mean, you’ll see the cops on motorcycles here during the day enforcing it, but at night, it’s…you can hardly see because the lights don’t even gloom right and then you can only see as far as you can using your headlights.”

Except something was done.

And Playa del Rey residents and Manhattan Beach commuters immediately got out the torches and pitchforks demanding its removal, until our weak-kneed mayor cut the legs out from under the local councilmember to force its removal.

Now every damn one of them have this woman’s blood on their hands.

CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin had ordered the road diet when the city was forced to settle a lawsuit for $9.5 million, two years after 16-year-old Naomi Larsen was killed while crossing the road at Dockweiler Beach.

Just like 33-year old Wendy Galdamez Palma on Saturday night.

Bonin understood that, without quick action, people would continue to die on the killer street.

And the next settlement would make that $9.5 million look like peanuts.

So he ordered LADOT to implement a long planned, and long delayed, road diet on Vista Del Mar, along with a handful of other local streets.

Unfortunately, the work was done over a weekend, without warning or public announcements, resulting in massive traffic backups and the inevitable hot tempers.

And somehow, everyone blamed bike lanes — and bike riders in general — for the road diet, even though LADOT used diagonal parking to narrow the street, rather than bike lanes, so speeding drivers wouldn’t keep killing people.

So in the face of demands from angry cut-through commuters, as well as lawsuits and threats of recalls — that was back in the day, before recalls were an everyday thing — Garcetti ordered all the road diets and bike lanes that had been installed on other streets removed.

Making Bonin look like a hapless fool.

And making more deaths inevitable.

As an added bonus, the actions of the future ambassador to India undercut virtually every road diet that had been planned anywhere in the City of Angels, as councilmembers ran scared, and quickly concluded they’d rather see more needless deaths than have those angry drivers come after them.

Most notably on LA’s Temple Street, where both CD1’s Gil Cedillo and CD13’s Mitch O’Farrell quickly backed out of a desperately needed, shovel-ready lane reduction.

Which was soon followed by CD2 Councilmember Paul Krekorian cancelling plans for similar safety improvements on Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood.

That’s how we ended up with bike riders and pedestrians continuing to die on our streets, six years after the city adopted Vision Zero, and just four years until traffic deaths were supposed to be a thing of the past.

Yeah, right.

Never mind an ever rising epidemic of hit-and-runs, as drivers recognized just how unlikely they are to be caught. And just how likely they are to get away with a slap on the wrist if they are.

All of which brings us to the needless death of a mother cradling her child in her arms, who reportedly turned away from the oncoming car to sacrifice her life in order to save his.

I honestly don’t know what to say anymore.

Wendy Palma did not need to die. Steps were taken to tame high speed drivers on deadly Vista Del Mar. And spineless cowards took them out.

Which means the next legal settlement won’t by $9.6 million, but significantly higher. Because the city knew there was a problem there, and not only didn’t fix it, they actually removed the fix.

And the one after that will be higher still.

And the one after that.

And people will keep dying, because the cowards in City Hall don’t have the courage to do anything about it.

Photo shows the road diet that was removed from Vista Del Mar.

………

If a driver can’t see what’s on the road directly in front of them, they shouldn’t be allowed on the road.

Period.

………

Everyone knows you can’t carry stuff home from the market or hardware store on a bicycle.

Let alone a dozen kegs.

Right?

https://twitter.com/pedalmeapp/status/1436314640825393153

………

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

This is who we share the road with. A British driver somehow seems to find humor in seeing an injured bike rider on the side of the road. Schmuck.

https://twitter.com/ldnparks/status/1435872982610612224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1435930878392274949%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cyclingweekly.com%2Fnews%2Fgrim-viewing-as-video-emerges-of-driver-mocking-injured-cyclist-in-richmond-park

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

London police “nicked” a teenage fake food delivery rider who was dispensing cannabis instead of food, catching him with nine bags of weed and the equivalent of more than $700 in cash.

It takes a major schmuck to punch a British man walking his dog and kick him in the head, just because the man asked a passing bike rider to slow down.

………

Local

Speaking of Mike Bonin, the councilmember announced improved bollard-protected bike lanes on Airport Blvd in Westchester (scroll down), even if half the riding area is in the gutter.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department’s Fugitive Task Force busted a man riding a bicycle in West Hollywood who was wanted for a New York murder, after his barber gave away his location by posting a photo of him getting a haircut on Instagram.

Fifty South Bay bike riders honored bicycling advocate Julian Katz with a ride in his memory, three years after Katz passed away at the age of 88.

They get it. The Long Beach Business Journal makes the case that a $20 million reconstruction plan for Artesia Blvd through Compton, Long Beach, Cerritos and Paramount, including an upgraded bike lane, will be good for business growth along the corridor.

 

State

San Diego will be the first US city to get the Bird, as the Santa Monica-based company deploys a fleet of their new ebikes in the city.

Twenty-eight-year old ex-con Martin Valdez Arias has been charged with randomly attacking a woman while riding his bike on a Ventura bike path; he faces charges of false imprisonment by violence and attempted sexual battery.

A travel website offers tips on how to ride your bike across San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

 

National

They get it, too. Vox says US cities must be designed to encourage much more biking, walking and transit use to end America’s obsession with driving and fight climate change.

A Denver PBS station looks at the local chapter of Black Girls Do Bike, a nationwide group dedicated getting more Black women to ride bikes. And dispelling the myth that they don’t.

Authorities are looking for a man who went missing not far from my Colorado hometown after he set out for bike ride on Friday, and never came home.

A Missouri construction crew devised a brilliant solution to keep the 287-mile Katy trail open during a bridge replacement project, using shipping containers to form a makeshift tunnel to protect riders from falling debris.

A Chicago group gave away 75 refurbished bicycles to kids from two to ten years old, as well as giving them basic safety training.

This is who we share the road with. A three-month old Brooklyn baby is dead, and her mother clinging to life, after a wrong way driver slammed into another car, and both vehicles spun out onto the sidewalk; the driver, who had an incredible 160 traffic violations in the past four years, attempted — and failed — to jack another car to flee following the crash. Just one more example of authorities keeping dangerous drivers on the road until it’s too late.

Don’t hold your breath. New York’s mayor promises answers after the NYPD turned a new bike lane into their own parking lot.

A New Yorker gets his stolen bike back two months later, after spotting it in a photo of abandoned bikes recovered by the police.

Camila Cabello is one of us, riding her bike with a friend on the streets of New York.

An Atlantic City paper is surprised to learn that county officials have been building a bike network for the past decade, but they support the effort, saying rising bike deaths make it a necessity.

No surprise here. A Pottsville PA cop wasn’t charged for killing a 31-year old man who reportedly was struck when he rode his bike into an intersection; no word on who actually had the right-of-way, or whether the officer was using lights and siren. Unfortunately, police have a well-deserved reputation for blaming the victim in any crash involving a cop.

 

International

If you think traffic is driving you nuts, you may be right. A new study shows exposure to traffic and railroad noise increases the risk of dementia in general, and Alzheimer’s in particular.

A Canadian man is looking for the Good Samaritans who came to his rescue after he did a face plant when a brake cable snapped on a steep descent, while visiting family in Vancouver.

A Toronto columnist says the future of the city’s downtown is not car-friendly. And that’s a good thing.

A man in the UK will spend the next six months behind bars for violating his probation, after being caught in possession of a bicycle that wasn’t registered with police, which was a condition of his suspended sentence for selling weed; he had been allowed back on the streets despite 13 previous convictions.

An Irish paper says carfree housing developments don’t have to be a utopian ideal, and that removing cars from homes can eliminate the risk they pose to children.

A new Netherlands study show bicycling injuries in the country are eight times higher than what has been reported by the police.

United Arab Emirates VP Sheikh Mohammed is one of us, taking to his bike to explore Dubai’s World Expo site ahead of its opening next month. Although he doesn’t look very happy about it, at least in the top photo.

September is the most dangerous month to ride a bike in South Korea, with August second.

More confirmation that Russell Crowe is one of us, as he took his mountain bike out for a spin around Sidney, Australia with his girlfriend.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cyclist Pascal Eenkhoorn was the star of Saturday’s 7th stage of the Tour of Britain for handing his water bottle to a young fan who pedaled furiously along the sidewalk to keep up with the lead breakaway.

 

Finally…

Let’s be honest, it would probably be worth the $6.51 fine to ride with a jet engine on your bike. That feeling when you’re tired of horseshit bike lanes — no, literally. Or get attacked by a pair of naked and mostly naked men.

And who says you need a surfboard to ride the waves?

………

On a personal note, yesterday marked the 14th anniversary of the Infamous Beachfront Bee Incident. But I’m still here, and the bees aren’t.

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

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,
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