Day 203 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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A new petition is calling for a red light cam at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street to combat the ongoing toll of traffic violence, including the hit-and-run death of Blake Ackerman two weeks ago.
As of this writing, it stands at 199 signatures, including mine.
Let’s help get it a lot higher.
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Here’s your chance to get started on building a more livable South Bay, with an in-person discussion next Monday evening at St. Cross Episcopal Church in Hermosa Beach.
What does it take to create livable and walkable communities?
Join us for an informative and dynamic conversation with special guests from Livable Communities Initiative and Parking Reform Network on policy and planning reforms to create a more livable, affordable South Bay community. We’ll learn from experts in urban planning and parking reform and hear from local organizations engaged in this work. This event will spark real conversations about local reforms that can bring down the cost of living and shape neighborhoods focused around people instead of cars.
This event is co-sponsored by South Bay Forward, League of Women Voters of the Beach Cities, and South Bay Bicycle Coalition Plus.
Featured speakers: Lindsay Sturman, Co-Founder of Livable Communities Initiative and Tony Jordan, President of Parking Reform Network.
Suggested donation of $10 per person to cover event costs.
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Metro is now accepting applications to join their Public Safety Advisory Committee.
Metro is seeking applicants to participate on our Public Safety Advisory Committee which will work to review, comment, and provide input on how the agency can reimagine public safety on our system.
We are looking for individuals who regularly ride Metro and are committed to supporting the agency in fulfilling its Public Safety Mission Statement, to “safeguard the transit community by taking a holistic, equitable and welcoming approach to public safety, in recognition that each individual is entitled to a safe, dignified and human experience.” Metro also seeks to ensure that the perspectives of youth, women, seniors and people with disabilities are represented. Please note, members serving on the PSAC are not required to be U.S. citizens but need to reside in Los Angeles County.
PSAC meetings occur in person monthly over a two-year term, with the potential for additional outreach, engagement, and subcommittee meetings as deemed necessary.
The PSAC is composed of individuals who can contribute their relevant experience as riders and expertise in:
- Racial justice
- Equitable transit
- Public safety reform
- Law enforcement
- Victims’ rights
- Mental health
- Homelessness
- Social services
We appreciate your interest in helping us ensure that Metro provides world-class transportation for all.
Applications for Metro’s Public Safety Advisory Committee will be accepted until Tuesday, September 16, 2025.
Apply Today to submit your application online.
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That’s more like it.
New York prosecutors threw the book at the speeding hit-and-run driver who killed a 55-year old man on his morning bike ride and a 63-year woman sitting on a bus bench in New York’s Chinatown over the weekend, as we mentioned yesterday.
Twenty-three-year old Autumn Donna Ascencio Romero was hit with charges of with murder, manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, criminal possession of a weapon, leaving the scene of an accident and criminal possession of stolen property.
That last one is because she was allegedly behind the wheel of a stolen car when she “flew” off a bridge at an excessive speed before jumping a curb, hitting the victims and slamming into a police van hard enough to knock it into a jewelry store.
Meanwhile, her 22-year old passenger faces two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
None of which will bring either victim back, of course.
But it’s a start.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Forget cell phones. A Boston driver says he killed a 62-year old man riding an ebike because he was distracted by a bug.
But sometimes, it’s the people on bikes behaving badly.
Elderly Singaporean residents complain that the area outside a market and food center has become a “dumping ground” for disorderly parked bicycles. Although we could also applaud the market for being exceptionally successful at attracting bicycle traffic.
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Local
Metro Bike is teaming with LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes for a seven-mile bicycle tour of Boyle Heights rich musical heritage. I’ll settle for anyplace that has anything to do with LA music greats Los Lobos, thank you.
A Pasadena committee will consider updating the city’s ebike regulations today to bring them into compliance with state regulations while eliminating a requirement to register ebikes, which the state prohibited in a 2023 bill.
State
California governor and undeclared presidential candidate Gavin Newsom signed a pair of ebike bills, one requiring lights and reflectors visible up to 500 feet, and the other merely cleaning up an existing law prohibiting ebike modifications to increase the speed.
This is who we share the road with. A San Diego woman faces charges for the hit-and-run death of a man walking on a bike path — yes, a bike path — after allegedly four miles on the pathway while under the influence.
A Fresno bicycle and pedestrian safety operation resulted in 144 citations, including 90 tickets given to drivers and 54 to pedestrians and bicyclists.
San Francisco’s “premier” open streets event returned to a short 1.4-mile segment of Valencia Street in the Mission District on Sunday.
Sacramento updated its Vision Zero Action Plan. Just in case you want to remind LA’s elected officials that we have one, too.
National
He gets it. A writer for Singletracks says he doesn’t regret riding one of America’s worst mountain bike trails, because “In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.” Amen, brother.
CyclingSavvy is hosting a Zoom bike safety training seminar tomorrow on how to prevent the most common types of crashes — even those caused by motorist errors.
Seattle Bike Blog says the city’s new bike lanes are actually freight infrastructure for cargo bike riders. Then again, that’s just as true for Los Angeles if you choose to use them that way. And maybe you should.
Quick action by an Iowa state trooper, along with several bystanders, is credited with saving the life of a 62-year old California man who has no pulse after crashing his bike during the annual RAGBRAI ride across Iowa.
Rhode Island’s annual Newport Folk Festival is expecting another record-setting year of bicycle traffic, with an anticipated 1,600 ticket holders arriving each day representing 16% to 18% of all attendees, thanks in part to a new city safety plan.
They get it, too. Jacksonville, Florida completed an $11 million road diet, slimming a four lane roadway down to one lane in each direction, along with sidewalks and bike lanes, in part because they expect it to attract business.
International
That’s more like it, part two. A 20-year old Sheffield, England man will spend the next eleven years behind bars for killing an 81-year old man riding a bicycle, after blowing a red light while high on nitrous oxide and traveling an estimated 30 mph over the post 50 mph speed limit.
A British coroner is criticizing a French investigation into the death of a high-end wine merchant, who was stuck by a driver while on a bicycling vacation in Burgundy, concluding the investigation “by the gendarmerie was inadequate” and finding no evidence the victim and his companions were riding recklessly, as the French cops had concluded.
A man in the UK is riding his bike unsupported around the coast of the country to encourage more men to bike and to get help for mental health, because “Suicide is the biggest global killer of men.”
A museum in Bhopal, India features 30 “luxurious” bicycles that cost more than some cars, including a tri bike with a frame made from a single sheet of carbon fiber with no joints anywhere. Then again, an entry-level car costs less than five grand in India.
Life is cheap in New Zealand, where the family of a bike-riding 11-year old girl is demanding a longer sentence for the hit-and-run driver who killed her while driving drunk, high and speeding on the wrong side of the road because she was enraged that her boyfriend was having an affair; they called the 34-year old woman’s four year and five month sentence a “slap in the face,” especially considering her 29 previous convictions. Yes, 29.
Competitive Cycling
While other websites are obsessed with how male cyclists pee during a race, Cycling Weekly considers the problem of how women cyclists manage their periods.
A new report from Zwift says we could be entering a new golden age of women’s cycling, saying the revival of the women’s Tour de France has already transformed women’s cycling on screen, on the road and in the pro peloton.
Mountain Bike Action examines the mountain bikers currently competing in the Tour de France, including Americans Matteo Jorgenson, Quinn Simmons and Sepp Kuss.
Velo wants to let you in on the secret human side of “Tour de France King” Tadej Pogačar.
Bike Radar considers the question of why the pain tolerance of pro cyclists is so much higher than other sportspeople. Although boxing, MMA fighting and pro football kind of hurt, too.
That’s not red wine cyclists are sucking down at the finish line, it’s tart cherry juice.
Finally…
Only in America could a cat grow up to be mayor of a bike path. That feeling when the county encourages you to ride on Gallows Road.
And the average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gas in Los Angeles County is just a fraction under $4.50.
Just in case you walk and ride your bike everywhere and have no idea what it costs these days.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
