Tag Archive for Richard Bidmead

Weekend Links: Getting buzzed in DTLA, life is cheap in OC and Alameda courts, and more bighearted strangers

Nothing like getting buzzed by an impatient jerk to ruin a ride on a beautiful day.

Richard Bidmead forwards video of what happens when a bike lane ends, and riders are forced to take to the traffic lane. Especially when you’re being followed by someone in a Corvette who knows how to use his horn, but can’t figure out how to change lanes to go around.

………

Evidently, life is cheap in Orange County.

Following his conviction in the hit-and-run death of bike rider Manual Morales Rodriguez two years ago, truck driver Filemon Reynaga faced up to four years in state prison.

Instead, My News LA reports Reynaga will serve just one year in county jail, thanks to a very generous judge.

Even though a witness saw him get out of his semi after hitting Rodriguez, look at the victim lying in the roadway, then drive off, leaving him unprotected in the darkness, only to be hit by another car a few moments later.

No one will ever know if Rodriguez might have been saved if Reynaga hadn’t shown such a callous indifference to human life.

Despite that, the judge indicated that he will sentence Reynaga to just two years, and put off sentencing until next January to allow him to serve his time in county lockup. And he’ll end up doing just one year behind bars.

One lousy year for intentionally leaving a man to die in the street.

………

Apparently, life isn’t worth any more in Alameda County, as a San Francisco attorney could serve just 30 days behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a Chinese tourist.

Bo Hu was walking his bike when a car driven by Spencer Freeman Smith slammed into him from behind, and fled the scene without ever applying the brakes. Prosecutors were prevented from introducing evidence that he had been drinking that night.

Once again, despite a callous indifference to human life, Smith was sentenced to just five years probation and one year in county jail; he can apply to finish his sentence in home detention after serving just one month.

Talk about hard time.

Let’s just hope he’s not scarred for life by being forced to watch the Giants and 49s on his flat screen from the comfort of his own den.

………

Yet another bighearted cop replaces a stolen bike, this time for an Indiana girl whose bike was apparently taken by neighborhood bullies just one day after she got it for her eighth birthday.

Evidently, cops aren’t the only ones in Indiana with big hearts. A tattoo artist raised $1,800 to buy a new bike for an Indiana boy who was hit by a car outside his shop.

And a stranger bought a new bike for a Tampa Bay girl after she collided with a car driven by an elderly woman; the driver asked if she was okay, gave her $20 and drove away.

………

Looks like the US is building a women’s cycling dynasty, as Chloe Dygert and Emma White take first and second in the under-23 road race; they finished in the same order in the U23 time trial earlier this week.

The US is favored to podium in the elite women’s road race on Saturday, while VeloNews says three-time world cyclocross champ Zdenek Stybar should be a favorite in the men’s race.

They must have made a good impression. A British pro cycling team signs three riders off the New Zealand U23 team from the world championships.

Africa’s first and only pro cycling team to compete in the Tour de France will now be known as Team Dimension Data.

And the head of pro cycling’s governing body says they’ve made great strides to restore credibility in the post-Armstrong era, despite the continuing drumbeat of cyclists banned for doping.

………

Local

Writing for Streetsblog, Richard Risemberg explains what a fair road use fee would be, suggesting that car-free bike riders should get a $250 rebate. And Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports on Thursday’s Vision Zero forum.

Bike friendly UCLA gets even friendlier with a new traffic light and a bike lane on the uphill side of Charles E. Young Drive North.

Boyonabike looks at transit developments and bike parking in the San Gabriel Valley, and finds the bike racks at the Monrovia Metro station both artsy and impractical.

A San Pedro letter writer complains about a road diet and bike lanes on Pacific Avenue, saying no one bikes in that part of town.

Long Beach gets $23 million in grants for bike, pedestrian and transit improvements, including a bikeway over the LA River connecting with the bike path on the coming replacement for the Desmond Thomas Bridge.

Just one more week to take Metro’s active transportation survey.

The SoCal cyclocross season kicks off this Sunday at Glendale’s Verdugo Park.

There will be a press conference at 11 am Monday at City Hall to support AB8, aka the Hit-and-Run Yellow Alert Bill, currently awaiting Governor Brown’s signature after he vetoed a similar bill last year.

 

State

No bias here. The auto-centric CHP concludes that bicyclists are at fault in 61% of collisions, and drivers only at fault in 20%. Which says more about the department’s lack of training in bike law and a bias towards those on four wheels than it does about bike riders. As does the lack of enforcement of the state’s three-foot passing law.

The Port of San Diego stands in the way of completing a 24-mile bikeway around the bay.

Coronado is having its 15 minutes of fame — or maybe infamy — as the mass anti-bike insanity threatens to go viral.

A 13-year old boy is under arrest for attacking an 84-year old La Quinta Walmart employee as he tried to walk out with two bicycles.

Things were calmer in Bagdad by the Bay this month, as riders in the San Francisco Critical Mass were on their best behavior, and no one beat on cars with U-locks.

San Francisco’s SF Gate looks at how they roll in bike-friendly Davis CA, where everyone is issued a bike in the hospital at birth. Or so they say.

Truckee is punching a hole in a rock wall to make a tunnel for a paved pedestrian/bike path.

 

National

Bicycling magazine talks to the man riding one of New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare bicycles across the US; so far he’s traveled 1,000 miles and incurred the maximum $1,200 late fee.

Bicycling continues to boom in Portland.

Las Vegas decides maybe it’s time to start enforcing Nevada’s three-foot passing law, including putting plain clothes cops on bikes to catch drivers passing too close.

A blogger in my hometown offers up three things cyclists wish motorists understood. I could come up with a lot more than that.

Wichita KS moves to eliminate fines for riding a bike after dark without a headlight, giving out 1,200 free bike lights instead.

An Iowa judge rules it’s okay to buzz bike riders and roll coal in their faces from a diesel pickup.

The bikeway network in Dallas TX grows to 39 miles, a big improvement over the eight miles of on-street bike lanes just three years ago. Although 32 miles of that are sharrows.

A new Minnesota parking lot opens near a bike trail, allowing people to remove bikes from their cars without fear of getting hit by passing cars; the project fulfills the dream of a former Eagle Scout who was later killed in action in Afghanistan.

Sad news from Ohio, as a second bike rider has died as a result of a collision when an apparently driverless truck left crossed a group of five riders; thankfully, the other three have been released from the hospital. Update: The victim was identified as Jim Lambert, an alternate on the US cycling team for the ’84 Los Angeles Olympics.

An Arkansas rider is on track to beat the 76-year old record for riding the most miles in a single year; two other riders, one in England and the other in Australia, are also attempting the same thing this year.

Memphis is on track to get bikeshare next year.

A Philadelphia woman faces a host of charges, including vehicular homicide, for running down a high school football player as he was riding his bike, then removing her plates and hiding in her SUV in a failed attempt to avoid arrest.

Get your resumes ready. Key West FL will be hiring a full-time bicycle and pedestrian coordinator.

 

International

A Canadian bike rider faces charges after reaching into the car that hit him, grabbing the keys, and dropping them into a storm drain. Maybe we should take up a collection to pay his fines.

An Irish charity gives a recumbent hand-bike to a wheelchair-bound teenage boy suffering from a degenerative neuromuscular disease, to provide him with more independence.

Belfast will transform into a bicycle paradise for a whole three hours and 45 minutes when they hold their first ciclovía next weekend.

 

Finally…

Physicists try to figure out how far you can lean into a corner on a bike without falling. Based on personal experience, I’d say the answer is pretty damn far. Four years after LA’s Wolfpack Hustle beat a jet from Burbank to Long Beach, a New York rider races a helicopter across Manhattan. And wins.

And no. Just… no.

 

Morning Links: It’s Video Tuesday, LA Mobility Plan back before city council, and one more CicLAvia wrap-up

Let’s make this a video Tuesday.

First up, bike rider Richard Bidmead barely makes it across an intersection thanks to someone with highly questionable driving skills.

Frequent contributor danger d gives us a hyperspeed timelapse ride through Sunday’s CicLAvia (more on that subject below).

He also questions whether a man who parked in the middle of the Balboa Park bike path to take a nap on a picnic table is tired or drunk. I vote for the latter, myself.

A great Brit video explains how to pass bike riders, and how not to. Too bad we can’t just flip the video and run it here.

And filmmakers are looking for funding for a documentary on enforcing three-foot and reckless driving laws; so far, they’ve raised just $530 of the $25,000 goal.

………

The LA Times casts a mostly unfavorable eye on LA’s new Mobility Plan, explaining at the end that maybe it won’t be as bad as they first make it look. Not surprisingly, Breitbart takes an even more conservative slant on the story.

And KPCC looks at the Vision Zero plan that underpins the Mobility Plan, which the Times failed to even mention.

The plan comes up before the full city council at 10 am today. The LACBC urges you to attend to support a safer transportation system in Los Angeles; if not, email your councilmember to express your support.

However, if the council follows its previous pattern, City Council President Herb Wesson may allow CMs Koretz and Cedillo will voice their support for the plan while urging the council to gut key parts of it in their districts.

Then the council will vote unanimously to adopt it, with little or no public comment, and reserving the more contentious issues for another date, since Wesson doesn’t seem to tolerate dissention in his house.

………

An LAPD spokesperson estimates over 20,000 people attended Sunday’s Culver City to Venice CicLAvia. Before 10 am, maybe; funny how the crowd estimates keep getting smaller as the events get more popular.

The Source provides some great photos, as does CiclaValley and the LA Times; CicLAvia provides their own page of photo highlights, along with video of the skateboard-riding granny who caught everyone’s eye. Meanwhile, Streetsblog asks what your favorite part of the day was.

Evidently, not everyone got the memo that it was car-free, though.

………

The women are racing in France once again, following their token appearance at the Tour de France. Meanwhile, the USA Pro Challenge announces the women’s teams competing in this year’s race, just 10 days before the tour starts. No point in giving them adequate time to prepare or anything.

A former Austrian pro gets a lifetime ban for pushing EPO and other performance-enhancing drugs to riders a few years back, while the Feds explain why they want Lance’s medical records. Which turns out to be exactly what everyone thought.

Taylor Phinney surprises everyone by being competitive in the Tour of Utah, after a 14-month recovery following a collision caused by a race moto at last year’s Nationals, while 24-year old Joe Dombrowski surprises everyone by winning the race.

And it’s happened once again, as MTN-Qhubeka rider Matt Brammeier is seriously injured in a collision with a support vehicle; two more riders collide with a race bike as he laid in the roadway.

………

Local

A Santa Monica bike shop owner spots someone riding the bike that was just stolen from his store while he’s driving to meet with police to discuss the break in. And follows the bike rustler until LAPD can make the bust.

If you didn’t get bitten by a rattlesnake on the Ballona or Marvin Bruade bike paths on the 31st, thank the Marina sheriff’s deputies and county animal control.

A Texas man rolls through Redondo Beach after riding 9,000 miles across the US with his dog to promote awareness for animal shelters.

After the cops give Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson a $350 ticket for blowing a stop sign at 40 mph, they come to his rescue when he’s harassed and threatened by a car full of punks.

 

State

After a 62-year old San Diego bike rider was seriously injured in a Mission Bay hit-and-run, another motorist followed the fleeing driver to get the license plate number.

Santa Barbara police are quick to ticket participants in an annual unsanctioned bike ride.

San Francisco accepts an F-grade level of service on redesigned Cesar Chavez Street to improve safety on the street, resulting in a 400% increase in bike traffic.

A Bay Area cyclist sets a new ascension record by climbing 95,622 feet in 48 hours.

A 14-year old Stockton boy suffers non-life threatening injuries when his bike is hit by a pickup. Why is it that reckless bike riders always seem to dart out in front of perfectly conscientious motorists?

No drama or close calls as Davis unveils a new bike-friendly Dutch intersection.

 

National

Pedestrian deaths are on the rise, so naturally, a government report blames texting walkers rather than texting drivers.

Planetizen says building a better city requires breaking down silos between disciplines and departments. Something that has proven difficult so far in the City of Angels.

Forty-thousand Portlanders get to preview a new car-free bridge.

An advocacy group from my hometown explains the rules for crossing a double yellow line to pass bike riders. That would have been legal here if it wasn’t for Jerry Brown’s hyperactive veto pen.

A Wyoming bike group asks the state legislature to invest in bikeways, while lawmakers would rather just study the issue.

Horrifying news from otherwise bike-friendly Minneapolis, as someone in a white Bronco is attacking bicyclists with cinder blocks; one rider was seriously injured.

Three out of four Rhode Island drivers like Christmas lights on bike wheels.

 

International

Road.cc lists 18 things that cyclists say.

A Canadian writer says that protecting bicyclists from collisions is a far better safety measure than requiring helmets; Britain’s Chris Boardman agrees, saying he won’t waste air time discussing the safety effects of helmets.

The father of a fallen Canadian rider calls for minimum sentences for hit-and-run drivers.

Ottawa paints “dooring zone” on the street in an attempt to keep cyclists out of it and drivers from doing it.

A teenage British bike rider helps rescue a woman from her overturned car. But bikes are the problem, right?

When you’re waiting for your girlfriend to join you on an around-the-world ride, it’s probably not the best idea to climb a mountain in India; an Israeli adventurer is severely injured in an avalanche doing just that.

Aussie authorities propose a floating bike lane to prevent deadly doorings in Melbourne. A similar plan was proposed for Westwood Blvd, but local residents and business owners evidently thought LA drivers were too dumb to figure it out.

 

Finally…

This is why you should never ride without a bra; a German woman was saved by her underwear’s underwire when a hunter’s bullet rebounded off a wild boar. A photographer shows why he prefers to shoot cyclists instead of moving motor vehicles.

And don’t try to flee by bike after bopping the mayor with a baseball bat because he was schtupping your wife.

Seriously.