Day 44 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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So much for that.
City councilmembers pulled the plug on considering how to implement Measure HLA at Wednesday’s joint session of the Transportation and Public Work committees, after a “fiery” discussion on another matter took up their allotted time.
But they announced proposed amendments to the draft implementation plan, including making projects subject to review and input from the fire and police departments, which is fine as long as they don’t get a veto.
Their input could be useful, as long as the process is how to make projects work, rather than how to water them down. Or kill them.
And let’s not forget that other city’s have invested in compact emergency vehicles to negate the complaint that bike lanes restrict emergency responses. Or that’s LA’s preferred plastic cat-tickler bendie-posts are very easy to drive over with cars, let along bigass firetrucks.
Two other proposed amendments could be more helpful.
First, the draft requires an appeals process for anyone who alleges the city is out of compliance with HLA, but the amendment would make that process optional.
The second would allow the city to expand the scope of grant-funded projects to comply with HLA, as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the funding.
So mark your calendar for February 26th, when the committees are scheduled for their next joint meeting. And hopefully, they’ll actually get around to discussing it this time.
Meanwhile, the city planning department will host a virtual information session on its proposed Standard Elements Table at 6 pm tonight to clarify the minimum features for the differing networks included the city’s Mobility Plan, which are now required under Measure HLA.
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No surprise here.
A new Irish study shows that public opinion usually shifts in favor of bicycling infrastructure once the benefits become evident, despite initial skepticism and the natural bias towards maintaining the status quo.
And acceptance grows once the bikeways are in place, when people can enjoy the tangible benefits they provide.
The study stresses the importance of highlighting the benefits of active travel initiatives, such as reduced emissions, better air quality and public health, and improving safety for vulnerable road users.
However, it also warns against a paternal attitude in explaining the benefits, which risk alienating some people.
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Another new study, this time from Switzerland, uses an algorithm to show where to place bike lanes to design an ebike-friendly city, with minimal impact on other travel modes.
The study concludes the best methods design street networks that present the best trade-off between car accessibility and bikeability, providing both lower travel times for motorists and lower perceived bicycle travel times.
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CicLAvia offers high points along Sunday’s West Adams meets University Park open streets event, including the spcaLA Pet Adoption Center.
Which gives me an excuse to explain that donations made to the national ASPCA — you know, the one with the ostensibly heart-tugging ads showing all those suffering animals — can go anywhere in the country.
So if you want to help dogs, cats and other animals here in Los Angeles — including pets displaced by the recent Palisades, Eaton and Hughes fires — make your donation directly to the spcaLA so your money stays here.
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Local
Seriously? The Signal reports someone riding an ebike was injured when they were struck by a vehicle in Canyon Country. Except the article doesn’t even mention whether the vehicle even had a driver, while the headline positions it as an ebike collision, as if the rider hit another ebike, or maybe a tree, rather than getting run down by a motorist.
State
More than a billion dollars in climate funds earmarked for California has been blocked, and could be imperiled by Trump’s executive orders.
A student at Point Loma Nazarene University aspires to be a pro cyclist in Europe, but lost a couple years due to PTSD after suffering a fractured pelvis when he was struck by a driver, while another student is aiming to be a professional triathlete.
Officials in the Coachella Valley are discussing how to improve safety on deadly Highway 74, aka the Ortega Highway, after a man was killed in a big rig crash, including the possibility of banning bicycles in certain areas. Which could be illegal, since California law says bikes can only be prohibited on limited access highways when there is an alternate route available — which doesn’t seem to be the case here.
San Francisco Streetsblog takes a look at an expanded, fully separated and curb-protected two-way bike lane in Alameda.
Our old friend Megan Lynch forwards news that a local Davis bike subscription service is apparently unsubscribing from the college town, after 500 of their bikes showed up for sale on Craigslist.
National
The family of a bike-riding Oregon woman killed by a DEA agent, who allegedly ran a stop sign while on a surveillance operation, has filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against the agent and the DEA, after the courts ruled he couldn’t be charged because he was working for the feds. Because sometimes a lawsuit is the only hope for justice when the court system fails the victims.
This is the cost of traffic violence. A Sedona, Arizona nationally known artist and photographer was killed by a driver when he tried to pass a slow moving car on his bicycle, while allegedly riding without lights.
A suburban Chicago writer sings the praises of wintertime fat tire bicycling, describing a “magical experience” riding through the snow.
A Maryland legislator has dropped a demand for a title and registration for ebike riders, but his proposed bill still calls for licensing and insuring e-bicyclists; needless to say, the Bike League says nay.
International
Momentum clearly hopes you get the Seinfeld reference, saying “these bicycle campers are real and they are magnificent.”
A writer for Cycling Weekly pens a breakup letter to his dirty bike after giving up on cleaning it himself.
Cycling Weekly also rates the best and most portable bike locks, including their top choice that “literally turns angle grinder-cutting discs to dust,” while weighing just 2.8 pounds.
The British government is providing the equivalent of $364 million in new funding to build 300 miles of new bike lanes and walkways throughout England; however, Cycling Weekly says it’s not new, and it’s not enough.
An Aussie writer travels through history on a pioneering gravel ride into the depths of Cappadocia.
A Canadian writer says Taiwan may be one the world’s best places for a bicycling holiday.
A tourist visiting from the UK was killed, and three others seriously injured, when a driver in New Zealand crashed into a four-person bicycle they had rented less than an hour earlier to tour a winemaking region.
Competitive Cycling
Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel announced plans to skip this year’s road worlds to focus on winning the mountain bike world title.
Cyclist takes a look behind the curtain at a hi-tech Spanish factory where the new kits for the WorldTour’s Ineos Grenadiers are made.
Finally…
Your next ebike could come with a detachable bucket. When you’re carrying meth, fentanyl and a wad of funny money on your bike, maybe just don’t.
And why pin down your clickbait slideshow, when you can just recommend riding along “rivers,” “mountain ridges” and “coastal pathways?”
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
