Tag Archive for road rage

Update — LAPD drops, then reopens investigation into Pinkyracer case, blaming the victim for her injuries

April 11, 2012 / / 39 comments

According to KNBC-4, the LAPD has closed its investigation into the road rage assault of cyclist Susanna Schick. And shifted all the blame for the incident onto the victim.

Based on the descriptions of two on-duty officers who claimed to have seen the whole thing — yet remarkably, failed to do anything to prevent it — Schick merely fell over, resulting in numerous broken bones as well as a significant concussion.

According to police spokesman Lt. Paul Vernon, speed may have been a factor in the collision, noting that Schick is a long-time motorcycle racer.

Yet she wasn’t riding a motorcycle on Friday night. And the severity of her injuries are inconsistent with a solo fall from a bike; even at high speed, she’s unlikely to have suffered six broken ribs and broken her pelvis in three places in a fall on level ground. Let alone been knocked cold for upwards of 15 minutes, despite wearing a helmet.

The fact that she has raced motorcycles is entirely irrelevant to this investigation.

Excuse me, former investigation.

Yes, it’s possible that she suffered such severe injuries in a simple fall.

But it is so far from likely that to ignore them suggests a desire on the part of police to just close the books and get this case over with.

As of now, no one other than the officers at the scene have examined Schick’s bike for evidence of a collision that might be beyond the ability of a patrol officer untrained in bike collision investigations to spot. And to the best of my knowledge, no one at the department has made any effort to contact the driver of the Lexus to get his side of the story.

If they had, he might have denied everything. Or he may have blurted out, as did the infamous Good Doctor, that he was just trying to teach her a lesson.

We’ll never know, because the department has inexplicably closed the investigation without apparently bothering to talk to him.

Then there’s Lt. Vernon’s apparent attempt to discredit the victim, suggesting that Schick may have been drinking — despite failing to present evidence to support that.

… He also questioned whether she had been drinking, and said officers could have insisted on a blood test at the hospital.

Yes, they could have requested a blood alcohol test at the hospital, but apparently didn’t. They also could have requested a virginity test, but failed to do that, as well.

It’s entirely possible that Susanna Schick had a drink or two — or maybe 20 — before riding home on Friday night. There’s clearly no shortage of bars Downtown where she might have stopped.

But given that she lives just a few blocks from where the incident unfolded, she could have just as easily been on her way home from church, a movie or an AA meeting.

If the police have any evidence that she’d been drinking, they failed to produce it.

As I’ve said before, we have no way of knowing what really happened that night. Maybe the police are right, and she was the aggressor in the road rage dispute, then simply fell off her bike.

Or maybe they’ve once again let a dangerous driver off the hook, as they did when they accused Andres Tena of riding his bike backwards into a Hummer, or cyclists of milling in the middle of a dark street waiting for a driver to mow them down.

I’m not, as a friend of mine accused me, accusing the police of lying.

I would sincerely like to believe that, from their perspective at least, they have followed the evidence and come to what they believe is the right conclusion, however much I may disagree with it. And however repugnant it may be to speculate that the victim may have been drunk without offering evidence to support it.

But to me, this appears to continue the same old windshield perspective, anti-bike bias that Los Angeles cyclists, and cyclists throughout the U.S. — and around the world, for that matter — have fought for years.

And which I thought was finally gone for good thanks to a bike friendly mayor, and the efforts of LAPD Chief Beck, Sgt. David Krumer and the bike community members of the LAPD Bike Task Force.

This investigation may be over as far as the police are concerned.

But that doesn’t mean it passes the smell test.

Update: Evidently, someone at LAPD headquarters doesn’t think it passes the smell test, either.

According to KNBC-4, the department is reopening the investigation, just hours after they reported the case had been closed. 

Police are reopening the investigation into what caused a cyclist to severely injure herself Friday night as a potential aggravated assault case, citing growing community concern and a second interview with the 42-year-old cyclist Susanna Schick.

Must have been some interview. Or maybe it’s thanks to KPCC’s Patt Morrison, who questioned LAPD Chief Beck about the case in an on-air interview Wednesday afternoon.

Of course, they don’t say who is suspected of the assault. The way this case is going, it wouldn’t surprise me if they charged Schick with assaulting the Lexus.

This case is starting to look more like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride than a serious police investigation.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Damien Newton says the department’s conclusion — or previous conclusion, at least — in the case strains credibility.

You could say that.

Either the department has badly bungled this investigation, or they have conducted the one of the worst public relations exercises in recent memory.

Or both.

In less than a week, the credibility of the department has been badly eroded within the cycling community. 

In fact, I’ve received messages from dozens of cyclists questioning just who was in that white Lexus, and whether some members of the department are trying to protect them.

Yes, it sounds crazy.

Then again, so does everything else about this case.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, Injuries and Fatalities, Law Enforcement, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , , , ,

LAPD reportedly dismisses hit-and-run in Pinkyracer case — in the middle of an ongoing investigation

April 11, 2012 / / 38 comments

Today we saw a turn of events so credibility straining it would get most Hollywood screenwriters fired.

And that’s not exactly a group known for believability.

An exchange of emails with LAPD Sgt. David Krumer shed light on the investigation into last Friday’s traffic incident that left Susanna Schick, aka Pinkyracer, broken and bruised in the ICU of a local hospital. Yet still raised as many questions as it answered.

And then it got strange.

Sgt. Krumer, the department’s highly respected liaison to the cycling community, had been out of the city through the holiday weekend, returning to his desk Tuesday morning. And was forced to immediately jump into the controversy surrounding the Schick case.

He reported that, contrary to earlier information, the LAPD did respond to the collision, and that a report was taken.

He said that the police were actually on the scene before the paramedics arrived, and that they were the ones who had called for an ambulance. And in fact, the officers were the ones who dropped Schick’s bike off at her home, rather than the paramedics as we had previously been told.

He said that there were conflicting reports that a collision had occurred, so the investigators were looking for video evidence to confirm exactly what had happened.

According to Krumer, the police also tried to interview Schick at the scene; perhaps due to the confusion caused by her injuries, she didn’t say anything about a collision. He said police would try to re-interview her again to clarify the situation.

It’s also possible that Schick doesn’t remember the collision itself due to her concussion; nearly four years later, I still have no memory of the solo fall that put me in the ICU.

He hinted that he had more information that would explain everything, but was prohibited from releasing it due to the ongoing investigation.

If only everyone else had such high standards.

Friends of Schick report that two detectives did in fact stop by to interview her in her hospital room — although interview might not be the best way to describe it. Instead, I’m told they put in at least as much effort trying to convince her she was wrong about the hit-and-run as they did asking what actually happened.

Then Tuesday morning, reports started to leak from police headquarters indicating that Schick wasn’t hit by a car after all; apparently there were witnesses who could discredit her entire story.

Witnesses in blue, no less.

And members of the department wasted no time in releasing the information Sgt. Krumer was prohibited from sharing.

I guess ongoing investigations don’t count when the department’s reputation is at stake.

I first heard rumors that a female detective was leaking information that Schick’s wreck had been witnessed by two officers who reportedly saw the entire event, and that they were the ones who called for the paramedics.

And they denied that any hit-and-run had occurred. Or that there was even another car involved in her fall.

By afternoon, a police spokesman was speaking to Blogdowntown on the record. LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon denied anything illegal had happened.

“There’s a great deal of discrepancy,” Lt. Paul Vernon of the Los Angeles Police Department said. “There is no crime here. She fell down on her bicycle.”

Remarkably, the police claimed that an experienced cyclist simply fell down. And somehow suffered multiple broken bones, as well as a shattered helmet, despite what would have been a relatively slow speed impact.

Blogdowntown reports that there is no dispute that the previously described white Lexus pulled out of a parking garage and swerved into the bike lane Schick was riding in on the opposite side of the street.

According to the report filed by the two officers who claim to have witnessed the events, Schick pedaled up to the car at the next red light, hit the passenger side mirror and started yelling at the people inside; the people in the car responded by rolling up their windows.

The officers said Schick continued riding for another block or two before the car turned right, and she simply began wobbling on her bike before falling over.

This semi-official version of events raises a lot of questions.

Not the least of which is why two police officers would witness a car serving across the entire width of a roadway and into a marked bike lane, jeopardizing the safety of a cyclist riding in it, and do absolutely nothing.

Repeat, nothing.

Which is exactly what they did when allegedly following an ongoing roadway dispute, even after they supposedly witnessed a cyclist striking a motor vehicle in anger.

Call me crazy, but wouldn’t that have been the time to light up the reds and stop both parties before the situation escalated?

Now, it’s entirely possible that Schick did strike the car’s mirror to get the attention of the people inside. I’ve slapped fenders, trunks and windows for the same reason, as it can be almost impossible to get the attention of music blasting, cell phone-using drivers these days.

And so far, no one has mentioned whether the officers had an unobstructed view of the situation. Schick has stated that the car followed her for at least a block, possibly in the bike lane itself —which would be yet another violation the officers failed to address, and which would have obscured the view of anyone following behind.

It’s possible, if not likely, that the Lexus could have hit Schick’s bike before or during its turn without the impact being visible to the police officers who supposedly saw everything.

It’s also possible that the car might have caused her fall without ever actually coming into contact with her bike. Which would still qualify as hit-and-run if it could be determined that the driver’s actions directly contributed to the wreck.

And the Department’s version of events fails to explain why, if a police report was filed over the weekend, no one in the department seemed to know anything about it on Monday morning. Or even knew a crash had occurred.

I’m not saying the police are wrong.

I wasn’t there. I don’t know what actually happened.

And they were — even if the information released so far doesn’t exactly add up.

But if the department is going to release information about an ongoing investigation, they need to be a lot more honest and open about it. And explain the apparent discrepancies in what we’ve heard so far, rather than falling over themselves to blame the victim.

Unfortunately, Schick’s bike may not be much help.

As it turns out, the supposedly tacoed rear wheel is actually a relatively minor bend. While it could still offer evidence of an impact, it may take an expert examination to determine exactly how it got that way.

Something else the police have yet to do, despite concluding that no impact occurred.

Meanwhile, the LACBC is calling for the LAPD and the City of Los Angeles to devote more resources halting the epidemic of hit-and-run; even if this turns out not to be one, drivers flee the scene in a full one-third of all L.A. collisions.

And writing on Streetsblog, Damien Newton calls on the LAPD to train a group of officers in the physics of bike and pedestrian crashes, so maybe in the future they can fairly assess blame without resorting to blaming the victims.

I couldn’t agree more.

But let me leave you with one final thought.

The LAPD investigators say they’ve ruled out hit-and-run, even though they’re still in the middle of an ongoing investigation. And despite continuing to look for video evidence or examining other physical that could prove that premature conclusion wrong.

So just how fair, open and honest can we really expect that investigation to be when, they’ve already announced the outcome in advance?

For a department that offers firearm training for all its officers, they certainly seem to have shot themselves in the foot.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, Injuries and Fatalities, Law Enforcement, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , , , ,

LAPD never responded to Susanna Schick road rage assault — and aren’t sure it was one

April 10, 2012 / / 19 comments

My worst fears about the Susanna Schick collision were realized today.

Despite being run down by a road raging driver just blocks from LAPD headquarters, the police were never notified that a cyclist was lying facedown in the street for upwards of 15 minutes Friday night.

Or if they were notified, they never responded.

And no police report was ever filed.

I spoke with a reporter from the L.A. Times Tuesday morning, who mentioned that he’d been calling the police all morning. And everyone he spoke with said this was the first they’d heard of the hit-and-run road rage collision that put Susanna Schick in the ICU with a concussion and multiple fractures.

Absolutely horrifying.

At best, the call fell through the cracks on a holiday weekend. Maybe the paramedics were notified, and the call never got to the police. That’s scary enough.

Far worse is the possibility that any of us — cyclist, pedestrian or motorist — could be left lying in the street waiting for police who might never come.

Hopefully, Schick’s family managed to work their way through the police bureaucracy and get an investigation started today — giving a dangerous driver nearly three full days to cover his tracks.

We may all be a lot less safe on the streets than we thought.

……..

Just received word that a police report was finally filed today. But without witnesses or video evidence, police are treating Schick’s injury as a solo fall, and ignoring — or at least downplaying — the allegations that there was another vehicle involved. Let alone that it was a case of a road rage assault and hit-and-run.

Evidently, we really are on our own out there.

And while they appear to be downplaying Schick’s allegations, I’m told that a cyclist was ticketed in the same area for riding without reflectors on his pedals, despite having both front and back lights.

Yes, it’s illegal.

But probably the most technical, BS violation they could write a rider up for, rather than focusing their efforts on keeping us safe from the drivers who want to run us down.

In light of the LAPD’s massive failure in the Schick case, this is just rubbing salt in the wound.

……..

As for a medical update on her condition, word is that Schick’s doctors are trying to avoid surgery if possible. But she’s looking at a minimum of two months in the hospital or an assisted living facility before she gets back on her feet.

Her family also asks that friends refrain from visiting for the next few days so she can get her rest; too many visitors — and reporters — have worn her out.

The other burning question has been how her bike got back home; I’m told the paramedics dropped the bike off after delivering her to the ER.

And people continue to open their hearts and wallets, as 105 people have contributed $3700 to help defray her medical expenses as of 11 pm Monday.

There are days I’m really proud of my fellow cyclists.

……..

Several news sources have picked up the story, including the L.A. Times, KTLA-5, LAist — including a follow-up —  KNBC-4 and KPCC public radio; ESBK offers a personal reflection, as does Gas 2.0 and Net Impact Los Angeles, where Susanna Schick is part of the leadership team. Even the L.A. Weekly had a surprisingly even-handed report, while KCRW’s Shortcuts blog picked up my own posts (thanks Kajon). Toronto bike blog Bike Lane Diary reported on the collision, as did our own Claremont Cyclist.

Meanwhile, KCBS-2 ignored the family’s wishes and invaded interviewed Schick in her hospital room; the hospital has been instructed to keep the press out in the future while she recovers.

……..

A couple other quick notes on other bike-related subjects —

The first public workshop on the proposed Beverly Hills Bike Route Pilot Project will take place Wednesday evening; Better Bike’s Mark Elliot offers his thoughts on the subject.

Central Coast cyclists are fighting ill-advised rumble strips on Highway 1; thanks to Al Williams for the heads-up.

In case you missed it, a Bay Area cyclist could face manslaughter charges after blowing through an intersection and killing a pedestrian in the crosswalk. The rider reportedly posted online that he had entered the intersection on the yellow and that the light had turned red before he could get all the way across, and that he had done everything he could to avoid injuring anyone. Right. I’ve laid my bike on its side to avoid hitting someone else, knowing it was going to hurt like hell. And it did. But the other guy walked away, and that was all that really mattered. Thanks to Stanley E. Goldich for the tip.

Meanwhile, Streetblog SF points out that cars still kill a lot more pedestrians than bikes do.

A speeding teenage driver loses control in Concord, and kills a father and daughter riding their bikes on the sidewalk, leaving a second daughter with less serious injuries.

The recently founded West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition has started documenting hazards to cyclists in the city, and wants your help to add to the list.

My favorite non-L.A. bikewear designer offers a look at her new spring women’s line, which somehow manages to be practical, stylish and sexy at the same time. Hey Nona — you know us guys need clothes too, right?

And finally, Chris Willig sends a photo of the ghost bike that was installed for Mulholland bike victim Carol Schreder; let’s all be grateful we didn’t need another one this past weekend.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, Injuries and Fatalities, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , , ,

Update: Susanna Schick improving — but where are the police?

April 9, 2012 / / 8 comments

Good news about Susanna Schick.

And possibly frightening news for all of us.

Schick, the cyclist who was the victim of an apparent road rage attack while riding in the Spring Street green bike lane last Friday night, is reportedly improving. Her friend Jennifer Beatty says that she’s awake and talking, and was allowed to eat on Sunday for the first time since she was admitted to the ICU.

She also reports that members of Schick’s family have arrived at her bedside, and are beginning to look into the police response to her assault.

And that’s where it gets scary.

As of Sunday night, no one from the department has apparently made any attempt to speak to speak to Schick. And her family has no information to indicate that the police even responded to the wreck that left her lying face down and unconscious on one of the Downtown’s busiest streets for as long as 10 to 15 minutes.

She reportedly has no memory of police officers at the scene of her collision, and no information about a police report being filed.

And that’s scary as hell.

It’s possible that the police were there, and she simply has no memory of them; clearly, she would have been in a lot of pain and barely conscious at that point.

Though you’d think that if the police did respond, they would have asked her what happened once she woke up. Or that someone — anyone — within the department would have followed up by visiting her in the ICU over the weekend.

Then again, this did happen over a holiday weekend, with both Easter and Passover undoubtedly affecting staffing levels at the department. And it may have looked like a solo bike collision — though you’d think someone might have asked how a rider could fall with enough force to cause such serious injuries in between red lights on such a level street.

But in a case like this, a prompt response is vital, as the driver is likely to attempt to get rid of any evidence that he may have hit a cyclist.

In addition, the two-block area where this unfolded contains countless security cameras that could shed light on exactly what happened. But those digital files and videotapes often aren’t kept long, as many systems are designed to record over older video files.

I also haven’t received any word on what happened to her bike, which may show evidence of a strike-from behind collision. Presumably, it should be held by the fire department or in police custody — but again, only if they responded to the collision.

We should find out a lot more today when her family begins what can often be a long, difficult process to work through LAPD bureaucracy to not only get information, but to get the department to take a hit-and-run case involving a cyclist seriously — let alone an accusation of an assault with a deadly weapon.

Hopefully, her family can get the ball rolling this morning, and get an investigation up to full speed before it’s too late. If it isn’t already.

But it’s frightening to think that something like this could happen without police involvement from the very beginning.

Hopefully, that’s not the case here.

Or ever.

Update: I’ve just been informed that Schick’s bike is currently at her home. And yes, the rear wheel is bent, indicating a hit-from-behind collision. No word yet on how it got there. Meanwhile, her ChipIn fund is up to $1700 as of 10:20 am Monday.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, Injuries and Fatalities, Law Enforcement, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , , ,

Update — L.A. cyclist Susanna Schick seriously injured in DTLA hit-and-run road rage attack

April 8, 2012 / / 74 comments

Susanna Schick, aka Pinkyracer, resting in ICU; photo courtesy of Jennifer Beatty

Just getting word of a horrible — and possibly deliberate — hit-and-run assault that left a popular cyclist seriously injured.

Several sources report that Susanna Schick, also known as Pinkyracer, was chased down and apparently struck by a white Lexus while riding in Downtown L.A. around 11:30 Friday night. Details are still sketchy, but it appears to have been road rage attack; the driver fled the scene following the collision.

According to the victim’s own words from her hospital bed, relayed by her friend Jennifer Beatty, the incident started on Spring Street between 2nd and 3rd — just half a block from the new LAPD headquarters — when the driver reportedly swerved across two lanes of traffic and into the bike lane where she was riding.

They exchanged words at the next traffic light until the female passenger rolled up her window; once the light changed, the car continued to chase her down 1st Street along Downtown’s new green bike lane.

After that, her memory is foggy; she remembers an “inexplicable extreme wobble” of bike — apparently a result of her bike being rammed from behind —  then nothing until the paramedics woke her up just past 4th Street, face down on the pavement and unable to move.

Schick reportedly suffered a concussion, broken collarbone, six broken ribs and a shattered pelvis, along with facial lacerations, all to the left side of her body, suggesting a high impact collision. Fortunately, she is conscious and speaking, though confined to the Intensive Care Unit at a Downtown hospital.

The car is described as a recent model, white midsize Lexus, either two or four doors, with tinted windows. The driver is described as a well-dressed, olive-complected man around 6′ tall, with a well-dressed female passenger.

If you see a car that matches the description, do not attempt to stop him yourself. Call the LAPD Central Traffic Division at 1-213-972-1853 and let them handle it. Or if you witnessed any part of the incident or have any pertinent information, you can email me at the address on the About page and I’ll forward it to the right people.

Best wishes to Pinkyracer for a full and speedy recovery, and thanks to Joe Anthony and Jennifer Beatty for the information.

Update: I’ve named Susanna Schick as the victim after getting permission to publicly identify her, and added a link to her Facebook page. I’ve also clarified where the incident occurred, and used her description of the wobble, based on additional information from Schick.

Update 2: A ChipIn fund has been created to raise money for Susanna Schick to help pay for her expenses and the costs of recovery.

Update 3: More information has been added to ChipIn page, including the time and additional details of the collision, which I’ve added above. As of 9:30 Sunday, the ChipIn account has raised $240. In addition, the story was picked up by LAist Sunday evening; thanks to Blog Downtown for prominently featuring the story, as well.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, Injuries and Fatalities, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , ,

Malibu PCH workshop tonight, hats off to Cal Poly planner, and psych test for road rager Louis Mraz

April 4, 2012 / / Comments Off on Malibu PCH workshop tonight, hats off to Cal Poly planner, and psych test for road rager Louis Mraz

There’s still time to make it to Malibu for this evening’s public workshop to discuss the Bike Route Improvements Project along PCH through the west part of the ‘Bu.

Cyclists trying to get to that soon-to-be improved bike route by fighting their way through the east part of PCH are still on their own.

……..

A Cal Poly Pomona student has received a national fellowship for her research paper on Evaluating Demand for Bicycle Facilities in Community-Based Bicycle Planning, with an emphasis on minority and low-income communities.

Her work showed that bike use is higher in areas with household incomes less than $30,000 and commute times of less than 15 minutes. And that communities should target their efforts where there is both the greatest need and highest potential for increased usage.

Congratulations to Edna Cruz. Sounds like she’s got a great future in planning.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.

……..

Following the death of San Diego cyclist David Ortiz — and the inexplicably inaccurate statements from the police — San Diego bicyclists will ride in his honor on Wednesday afternoon. And protest the unnecessarily dangerous conditions on the street where he was killed.

……..

Maybe he’s just nuts.

Road raging driver Louis Mraz, convicted of intentionally running down cyclist Winona Wacker in Highland Park, has been ordered to have a 90-day mental health evaluation before he’s sentenced; sentencing has been moved to June 29th.

……..

I love this piece from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on complaints about the new PA four-foot passing law. For a change, the writer clearly gets it when it comes to comparing the threat posed by cyclists and motorists.

I’ll point out here that I ride a bicycle from time to time, but almost never in traffic. It’s not because I’m scared to death of being mowed down by a careless, lawbreaking bicyclist.

Definitely worth the click.

……..

The first ticket for violating Pennsylvania’s new four-foot passing law comes just 15 hours after it goes into effect; hats off to the bus driver who blocked traffic to keep a hit-and-run driver from fleeing after he failed to give a rider four feet by running over his ass.

On the other hand, there are few things more ridiculous than comments from law enforcement that three — or in this case, four — foot passing distance is unenforceable unless there’s an actual collision.

A cop may not be able to to tell when a car is passing a cyclist at 2’8” instead of a full three feet. But any cop who can’t tell the difference between a foot or two and a yard or more has got serious problems.

……..

Damien Newton says the distracted driving zombies just aren’t going to cut it. More great photos from the recent Feel My Legs, I’m a Racer hill climbing stage race. LADOT wants your input on how to make Yucca Street bicycle friendly. The Real Rydaz are hosting a ride through South L.A. on July 1st, even if money and Metro is keeping CicLAvia from venturing there. Metro wants you to promise, cross your heart, that you’ll ride during Bike to Work Week next month. LADOT attempts to address an ongoing problem with a new campaign urging people to keep their trash bins out of the bike lanes. The newly issued Request for Proposals to reconstruct Santa Monica Blvd through the biking black hole of Beverly Hills includes instructions to consider bike lanes in both directions; it’s a start, anyway. Meanwhile, Beverly Hills announces public workshops for their upcoming Bike Route Pilot project; personally, I’d like to see separated cycle tracks on Rodeo Drive. Kick off the month-long lead-up to the BikeFest Tour of Long Beach with a free bike tune-up and tricycle races at Miller’s Children Hospital starting at Wednesday.

A Newport Beach cyclist is injured in a dooring; thanks to David Huntsman for the tip. Our neighbor to the south completes another 1.8 mile segment of what will eventually be a 24 mile bikeway around the San Diego Bay. Bike San Diego’s Sam Ollinger recaps day two of last month’s National Bike Summit. Visalia cyclists get their first sharrows, and unlike other cities I could name (cough: Los Angeles), an explanation of what they are. A San Francisco cyclist is severely beaten and robbed in an early morning attack. My favorite reality TV show are the L.A. police car chases that air intermittently on our local stations; now Cyclelicious offers proof that bicyclists can get in on the fun, too — even at 60 mph.

Ten things you need for a long-distance bike tour, starting with, yes, a bike. A new Albuquerque bike and pedestrian bridge will let cyclists cross I-25, while providing easy access to a strip club. Eight Denver cyclists are ticketed and their bikes impounded during the city’s first Critical Mass in four year. North Dakota cyclists push for bike lanes on a main street. The Springfield Cyclist calls your attention to the guy who didn’t crash in the Tour of Flanders. Chicago cyclists just want more police to enforce traffic laws — and stop parking in the bike lanes. Attention planning types, the bicycling director position for the city of Boston is about to open up; if they decide they don’t need an actual planner, let me know. That 90-year old New York trike rider is just a youngster compared to a couple riders here on the left coast. Louisiana considers legalizing sidewalk riding.

Toronto cyclists vow to fight the removal of existing bike lanes. A British bike rider complains about the lack of women in a bike company’s marketing brochure; seems to be a problem with a lot of companies that should know better. Helmet cams are bringing justice to UK streets. York city leaders step up to make their streets less safe for cyclists. England’s 125-year old Raleigh bicycle company is about to go Dutch. Edinburgh starts a new campaign to get cyclists in bike boxes, and keep drivers out. Germany wins the women’s world team sprint title, setting a new world’s record twice in the process. A badly broken collarbone has pro cyclist Fabian Cancellara down but not out, at least not for long. After being stripped of his title, and apparent time off for good behavior, ex-2010 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador plans to race in this year’s Vuelta. Oddly, the Tour of the Basque Country goes nowhere near Bakersfield; Spain’s Samuel Sanchez leads after three stages. An Aussie scientist gets 10 years for deliberately running down his bike-riding boss.

Finally, Good busts nine bike myths; then again, there’s at least that many reasons why you shouldn’t ride to work, right?

Category: Bikes & the Law, General, Legal Cases, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , , ,

There are no safe streets for cyclists

March 8, 2012 / / 28 comments

Yesterday, I received an email from a man who had moved with his wife from Portland to South Pasadena.

They had chosen South Pas, at least in part, because it appeared to offer the most rideable streets in the area. Yet in less than a year, he’d suffered two minor right hook collisions.

His point was that riding in the L.A. area is a completely different experience than riding in Portland. And that local communities need to do more to make other forms of transportation besides motor vehicles a priority.

He’s right.

While South Pasadena has recognized the problem, and is actually doing something about it, a lot more has to be done throughout the county to make cycling safer for every rider.

Though not everyone seems to be getting that message.

The LACBC affiliate chapter BikeSGV reports that the Arcadia City Council decided this week not to develop a bike plan — in part because the city’s Mayor Pro Tem doesn’t think bikes are a legitimate form of transportation.

Vincent Chang

Just got back from a disappointing Arcadia City council meeting where Mayor Pro Tem Robert C. Harbicht took the lead to nix a contract with a bike plan consultant to prepare a bike plan for the city. Unfortunately, the rest of the council, including the Mayor (who established a city “mayors bike ride”) went along. Harbict stated he had concerns about federal funding for bike access in general as he didn’t believe cycling can be a legitimate form of alternate transportation. Ironically, both Harbicht and the Mayor claims to be avid cyclists.

I don’t know whether that reflects ignorance of the potential utility of their preferred form of recreation, or the dangers of riding in their own city.

Either way, they’ve failed the residents of their city by denying them the opportunity to ride in greater convenience and safety, whether for recreation or safety.

Then again, the problem could be that they’re “avid” cyclists, as some — though not all — Vehicular Cyclists actively oppose the sort of infrastructure preferred by the overwhelming majority of riders.

They believe that every rider — even the most unskilled, slow or risk-conscious cyclist — is safer riding in the traffic lane ahead of oncoming, often high speed, vehicles than in a separate lane devoted to bikes.

In fact, John Forester, the father of the VC movement, recently commented on the New York Times website that “nobody has yet “create[d] safe bike lanes”; we don’t know how to do it.”

I think many riders in the Netherlands — and even in New York — would beg to differ.

It’s a battle that rages on in cities and states throughout the country. Like in San Diego, where Forester himself helps lead the fight against more and better bike lanes, much to the chagrin of more mainstream riders.

Despite denials from VC adherents, there have been numerous studies that show well-designed bike lanes can improve safety for everyone. Not just cyclists.

Meanwhile, I have yet to see a single credible study that supports the oft-repeated argument that cyclists are safer riding in traffic than in a good bike lane.

Which is not to say there aren’t a lot of bad ones out there.

Maybe that’s because, like Forester, they refuse to believe such things exist. Sort of like another group that denies compelling scientific evidence.

But it does raise a question another rider brought up awhile back, when he asked for my advice on whether it was better to ride a busy street with a bike lane or a quieter backstreet route with no bike infrastructure.

And the sad answer I gave him was that there is no such thing as a safe street for cyclists.

Depending on your perspective, both present their own unique set of dangers.

On a busy street, you have the risk of high speed traffic and an unacceptably high rate of careless and/or distracted drivers. Along with the near-constant risk of doorings, right hooks and left crosses, as well as drivers who consider the bike lane another motor vehicle through lane, or maybe a parking lane.

Meanwhile, riders on backstreets risk drivers backing out of driveways without looking, children and dogs running out into the roadway without warning, and drivers who don’t even consider the possibility of bikes on their bucolic byways.

Even on country roads, where I did some of my most enjoyable riding in my pre-L.A. days, you might not see a car for hours. But there are still dangers posed by truck drivers and farm equipment operators who assume there’s no one else there, and speeding teenagers out for a joyride — sometimes tossing their empties at any unfortunate victim they happen to pass.

And yes, I speak from experience.

And don’t get me started on the ubiquitous risk of potholes and otherwise dangerous road surfaces and designs. Or the unique thrill presented by riding past bears or gators.

Or bees.

That’s not to say bicycling is dangerous.

It’s not.

But it does demand a constant awareness of your surroundings, as well as a focus on defensive riding by anticipating the dangerous presented by your current environment, wherever you happen to be. And being prepared to respond to risks before they arise.

That doesn’t mean that drivers and other in the road aren’t responsible for using it safely. But it’s your life that’s on the line, and you can’t count on them to focus on your safety. Or even know you’re there.

Or care, for that matter.

That point that was driven home the other day on the quiet residential streets of my own neighborhood, as I made my way through the last few blocks at the end of an otherwise enjoyable ride.

I’d just stopped for a stop sign, and was beginning to resume my route across the intersection when an SUV came up on the cross street. The woman behind the wheel looked directly at me, then gunned her engine just as I was about to pass in front of her, cutting right onto the road I was riding on.

Fortunately, I was prepared, anticipating that the driver might run the stop sign — though not that she would attempt to hit me in the process. I was able to swing out onto the wrong side of the road, allowing her to screech past me and race off into the distance.

Yet as so often happens, I caught up to her at the next red light.

So I asked, as politely as I could under the circumstances, with fear and anger and adrenalin coursing through my body, why she’d just tried to run me over.

Her response?

“Cyclists have to stop at stop signs too!”

Never mind that I had already stopped before she ever got to the corner, while I was still the only one at the intersection. Or the irony that she ran a stop sign in her attempt to run me down.

In her mind, she was entitled to enforce traffic laws with the bumper of her car. Just another driveway vigilante using brute force to intimidate, if not injure, another human being.

Fortunately, I’m not so easily intimidated.

I would have loved to continue the conversation, but she quickly cut from the left turn lane she was in to make a quick right in front of high-speed traffic in order to get away from me.

Evidently, I scared her, even though she was the one wrapped in several tons of steel and glass. And I wasn’t the one who’d just tried to attack someone.

Though I did break my Lenten vow to not swear at drivers, however much they might deserve it; risking eternal damnation for the momentary relief of releasing my anger verbally before I exploded into a thousand spandex-clad pieces.

As usually happens in such cases, I didn’t have time to get her license or a good description of her car. And even if I had, there were no witnesses, so there’s nothing the police could have done anyway.

The really scary thing, though, is that the residential nature of the street she was on means that she’s likely to live here herself. Which means that she’s probably one of my neighbors, and there’s a high probability I could run into her again.

Whether either of us will recognize the other is a good question. As is what would happen if one of us does.

Where you prefer to ride is a matter of your own comfort level. Whether that leads you to ride vehicularly in a busy traffic lane, in various bikeways or on quieter bike streets that seldom see another road user, on two wheels or four.

But it’s a good reminder that no matter how peaceful they may look, there are no safe streets.

Even the ones in your own neighborhood.

Thanks to everyone who forwarded me the link to the San Diego KPBS story.

Update: Oddly — or maybe not so oddly, given the KPBS story — Bike Snob wrote Vehicular Cycling today, as well. And as usual, he’s much funnier than I am.

Category: Best of, Bicycle Safety, Car vs Bike, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Zen and the art of road rage

February 9, 2012 / / 4 comments

For the second time in the last 10 days, I found myself dealing with a road raging driver Thursday.

I was making a left from Main Street in Venice, after enjoying the relative luxury of the newly installed bike lanes, onto the sharrowed pavement of Abbot Kinney.

For once, I found myself all alone in the turn lane. But after the light turned green, a car came up behind me as I waited for the oncoming traffic to clear so I could make my left.

As I waited, I allowed my bike to drift slowly forward to avoid clipping out of my pedals and putting my foot down. And once the last car passed, I made my turn.

Unfortunately, my forward drift had put me at the far side of the intersection, so my turn ended up on the far side of the roadway, just this side of the right curb. And giving the jerk behind me just enough space to make his turn at the same time, blowing past about a foot from my elbow.

Startled by such a dangerous, jackass move, I yelled out “Hey!”

I was just as startled by his instantaneous anger. “Fuck you!” he yelled. “Get off the road.”

And there it was.

A clear violation of the new anti-harassment ordinance — a threatening action with his car, followed by the verbal implied threat telling me to get off the road. And a dangerous jerk who needed to be taught that we have every bit as much right to the road as angry, auto-centric idiots like him.

All I needed was a license number and witnesses, which wouldn’t have been hard to find on such a busy intersection.

By the time I’d collected myself and regained full control of my bike, he was already 100 yards down the road. But what he didn’t count on was that a very pissed-off cyclist can easily outrun a car on a crowded city street.

So I stood on my pedals, kicked up my cadence and knocked it up a couple gears, and soon found myself steadily gaining on him; within a few blocks I was less than 20 feet off his back bumper as he watched me approach in his rear view mirror.

But just as I was readying my camera to snap a photo of his license plate, he gunned his engine and quickly cut onto the wrong side of the road to bypass the traffic ahead of him, before zipping left down the next side street and rounding left at the next corner.

And like that, he was gone.

I may have shouted a reference to his apparent lack of cajones as, like Monty Python’s Sir Robin, he bravely ran away.

At least I could take comfort in scaring the crap out of a cowardly jerk who’d rather run away after threatening someone than face up to what he’d done.

It was clear that any further attempt to chase him down would be a wasted effort in the tangled warren of narrow streets behind Abbot Kinney. So I rode on, mad as hell, replaying the events in an endless loop in my mind.

And letting that jerk ruin my ride on a perfectly sunny SoCal day.

And that’s when I heard it.

That little voice inside my head, asking “Why are you still carrying him?”

It was a barely remembered story, from a time in my life when I was a steady student of eastern philosophy; these days, I’m less of a student as it has become, simply, a part of me.

When I slow down long enough to remember, that is.

As the story goes, two monks were traveling together when they came to a roaring river, and found a young woman who asked if they could carry her across. Without hesitation, one of the monks lifted her up and carried her across the stream, setting her down on the other side before continuing on their way.

As they walked, though, his partner was troubled, and asked why the other man had carried the woman when their training forbade physical contact with the opposite sex.

“Brother,” the other man replied, “I set her down back at the river. Why are you still carrying her?”

Why indeed.

If I could have done something to fight back against his threatening actions, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it. But by then, there was nothing I could do.

He’d threatened me. And gotten away with it.

And there’s just not enough room on my bike to carry another man and the car he rode in on.

So in that moment, I chose to leave it behind and get on with my ride. And my life.

If I see him again, I may make another attempt to bring him to justice. But it was a beautiful day, and I had another 30 miles to go.

And life is too short to carry that anger with me.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, Roadway Courtesy / Tags: , , , ,

Main Street road diet brings joy to Venice cyclists; a road rage finger and a shipload of links

January 31, 2012 / / One comment

This is what the new bike lanes on Main Streets looked like on Thursday.

Those of us who ride near the coast are celebrating the long awaited arrival of the Main Street road diet in Venice.

After winning approval from the local Neighborhood Council, hopes were high that the bike lanes would be installed by the end of the year. While that didn’t happen, work finally began the weekend before last — only to be halted due to the recent storm.

And leaving barely sketched out lane lines that seemed to confuse almost everyone, as I watched driver after driver try to squeeze into the narrow soon-to-be bike lane.

Even though it lacked the bike markings, you’d think drivers would realize that a lane narrower than their cars probably wasn’t meant for them. Then again, that’s assuming most drivers think behind the wheel, which may be a stretch.

But this past weekend, it finally became a reality.

And frequent contributor Eric Weinstein — excuse me, Eric “lets extend the Main St. bike lanes” Weinstein, as he signed his email — could barely restrain his excitement.

The Main Street bike lanes in Venice are here!

Katarina, on her electric bike, and I went for a bicycle ride and victory lap, up and down the freshly painted Venice Main Street Bike lanes on Sunday. They came out pretty good after all this time. It was perfect weather and there were already lots of other cyclists.

These lanes appear to be a bit wider than the Santa Monica section. There’s less chance of being doored with a space on the right of the lane for much of the route. And the car traffic seemed calmed by the lane re-configuration. There’s a section Northbound from the kicking clown to the Santa Monica border which has long had lane confusion, with awkward last second merges into the left lane. That’s completely fixed and is much safer and smoother now. The South end of the bike

lane is at the Windward Circle allowing a easy merge around the circle. Connecting to Abbot Kinney’s sharrows is easy too, making a good route over to Venice Blvd.’s bike lanes to Culver City and even Downtown LA.

This is great new place for bicyclists. Now there’s safe, easy route from downtown Santa Monica to the Windward Circle. These are the best places near the beach to visit by bicycle. And the new lanes make this an easy trip on flat ground that anyone can pedal. Merchants near Main St. should now be asking LADOT for more bike racks in front of their stores to bring in these new customers (www.bicyclela.org/RackRequest.htm). We should all be taking this route for a test spin on the next sunny day.

Like all things there’s room for small improvement, which will make a big difference. The one I’d really like so see would be some wayfinding signage. One or two signs at the south terminus

pointing to the beach path and the alternate route avoiding Washington Blvd. to the Marina Del Rey section of the path. And put a few signs on Ocean Ave. and Venice Blvd. pointing toward the new lanes on Main Street. Showing the connections to the bike lane will really help increase it’s usability.

These bike lane projects take a massive effort by many, many people to see anything appear on the ground. A big tailwind on their next ride to LADOT and Michelle Mowery’s group for initiating this great connecting route. Not the mention engineering, presenting and constructing it. Also to the Venice Neighborhood Council for voting to proving a safer place for cyclists in the community. And Bill Rosendahl’s office for getting the plans approved by all concerned. And a really big kudos to all the SPOKE and LACBC people who advocated for this, especially our Bicycle Advisory Committee representative Kent Strumpel.

……..

The latest trend seems to be automotive greenwashing support of bikes, as Volkswagen begins a two-year relationship with Bikes Belong, and Fiat wants to clear the air to improve relations between cyclists and motorists.

Of course, that’s after the League of American Bicyclists partnered with AAA, even though the SoCal version of the auto club was one of the prime opponents of California’s proposed three-foot passing law.

Speaking of the bike league, they report that bike and pedestrian funding is once again under attack in the Tea Part-addled House.

……..

It may be in broken English — the original is in Swedish — but a Stockholm cyclist complains about news reports that never fail to blame cyclists but never seem to blame drivers. Instead, it always seems to be driverless cars that bump into other people and vehicles.

I’ve complained about the same thing on here more than once.  Then again, if you subscribe to my Twitter account, I’ve probably complained about it ad naseum.

But it’s interesting to see it’s not just an American phenomenon.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.

……..

L.A. Live is getting more bike parking. A review of a 32-mile ride through the Westside guided by Bike and Hikes LA. If you liked last November’s CicLAvia, you’ll love the next one on April 15th on the same route. Glendale is reaching out to local residents to support a road diet of their own. Baldwin Park wants more bicycle-friendly streets. The Culver City Bicycle Coalition will host a fundraiser the day after Valentines Day at Joxer Daly’s on Washington Blvd. Better Bike recaps the recent Beverly Hills Bike Plan Update Committee meeting to discuss proposed — and rapidly shrinking — bike lanes and bike racks both current and planned; and he’s right, if the meetings weren’t the same night as the LACBC board meeting, I’d be there. Venice may have new bike lanes on Main Street, but Pink and baby prefer the bike path. The Time is running out to become Streetsblog’s new Santa Monica correspondent. A Santa Monica bike company based on a made up bike team based on a real beer-drinking Belgium racer. Rick Risemberg meets a man on an 85-year old bike; he also finds a bike/ped bridge in Whittier, but no signage that says how to get there. Some schmuck stole a 86-year old WWII vet’s bike in La Habra. San Diego gets buffered bike lanes.

View the trailer for the upcoming bike movie Peloton. Bicycling interviews rising BMC star Tejay van Garderen. Drivers like to complain about red light running cyclists, but it’s the cyclists and pedestrians whose lives are endangered by the scofflaws on four wheels. After two years of bike commuting, an Arizona cyclist has to get new clothes. Washington’s House passes legislation to slow some speed limits to 20 mph. Evidently, Springfield Cyclist hates SUVS as much as I do; or almost, anyway. A Texas cyclist is collateral damage when a drunk driver flips his truck, killing his two passengers as well. Is someone stealing and selling ghost bikes in the Big Apple? The captain of the Appalachian State University bike team is injured when his wheel hits a pit bull. LeBron bikes to work.

Grist offers 10 lessons from the world’s great bike cities. A Calgary columnist says just say no to bike share. After his bike is stolen, a UK youth gets it back through Facebook for £50 — about $78 bucks. A driver is fined a whopping £25 after being caught on video verbally abusing a cyclist. A London councilor says four cyclists have died within a two-minute walk of his home in the last two years; a very lucky cyclist could have added to the toll. Yet another delay in the Contador doping case. Aussie cricketer Shane Warne is being sued by the cyclist he apparently slandered — and hit.

Finally, when a group of teenagers tried to rob a 65-year old Pennsylvania cyclist, he pulled out a gun and fired, killing one and injuring another. Now friends of the victim speak out in support of his friends and family. Thanks to Rex Reese for the heads-up.

And this is what a road raging driver looks like after threatening to run me off the road the next time I get in front of him — even though I was doing 20 in a 20 mph zone on the VA grounds when he Jerry Browned me for no apparent reason.

Category: Guest Columns, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , ,

Breaking news — Dominique and Stephen Rush accept a plea deal in hit-and-run death of Alex Romero

January 28, 2012 / / 9 comments

Big news on the legal front.

According to courtroom reports from cyclist and attorney Dj Wheels, Dominique Rush, the driver charged with the hit-and-run death of 17-year old cyclist Alex Romero, will spend the next few years behind bars.

Wheels, who was in the courtroom for today’s preliminary hearing, reports the 23-year old Rush entered a plea of No Contest to charges of gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run.

Her father, Steven Rush, also entered a plea of No Contest to being an accessory after the fact for his efforts in helping his daughter cover-up her crime.

Romero was riding north along De Soto Avenue with a friend on the night of April 20th when he was struck by a speeding car near the intersection with Valerio Street. The driver, later identified as Rush, reportedly tried to pass another vehicle on the right, striking Romero’s bike from behind and killing him instantly before speeding off without stopping or slowing down.

That began a months-long investigation in which the police soon identified Rush as the suspect, but were unable to find the 2003 Toyota Corolla she’d been driving at the time.

According to the police, that difficulty was due, at least in part, to her father’s efforts. As KNBC-4 reported at the time of the arrest,

“The father went way beyond taking care of his child,” said Capt. Ivan Minsal of LAPD Valley Traffic Division. “He concealed the information. He concealed the car that his daughter, the driver, was driving.”

Now they’ll both have to pay for their crimes.

Wheels reports that Dominique will be sentenced to two years and eight months in prison on March 6th, while her father will receive 10 days in jail, along with 30 days on a Caltrans road crew.

I hope he works on a roadway where he’ll have to watch a lot of cyclists go by.

And yes, that sentence is a relative slap on the wrist for running down another human being and leaving him to die in the street where he fell. Maybe someday someone can explain to me how anyone could do that to another person.

Anyone with a heart, anyway.

But it may be the best prosecutors could do under the circumstances.

The fact is, this is one case the police didn’t give up on. Maybe it was pressure from the cycling community. Or maybe it was dedication to their jobs, and a commitment to keep going until they had the guilty party behind bars.

The LAPD investigators in charge of this case kept at it long after they could have given up and pushed it off the back burner. And long after many of us had given up on this case.

That they didn’t says a lot about them.

And the gratitude we all owe them on Alex’ behalf.

Wheels reports that his aunt Matilda addressed the court, saying Alex was a precious gift from God, and asking Dominique to repent. He says Dominique cried during the aunt’s comments, while Steven was tearful but composed.

I’m sure they’ll shed more tears in the days and years to come.

But it won’t begin to compare with the tears that have already been shed by Romero’s family and friends.

……..

A couple other notes from Dj Wheels.

He reports that Jeffrey Ray Adams, the road raging driver charged with intentionally cutting off a cyclist in Santa Monica — then ranting about it as the camera rolled — had a preliminary hearing last Friday. The court found there was enough evidence to take the case before a jury; he’ll have a felony arraignment in a couple of weeks.

And a restitution hearing was held Tuesday in the case of Jaclyn Andrea Garcia, the underage driver charged with nearly killing cyclist Adam Rybicki last April when she collided with a group of Sunday morning riders while still drunk from the night before.

She may have gotten off with a slap on the wrist at her sentencing. But the judge lowered the boom in assigning restitution, ordering Garcia to pay $16,162,239.24.

Yes, that’s 16 million, one-hundred-sixty-two-thousand, two-hundred-thirty-nine dollars. And twenty-four cents change.

On top of that, she was ordered to pay 10% annual interest until the amount is paid in full.

Although I suspect they might be willing to write off that last 24 cents.

Which means that unless she’s phenomenally successful, Garcia will likely be working for the Rybickis for the remainder of her life. And that is a heavy price to pay for a night of youthful stupidity.

Yet it doesn’t begin to make up for what Garcia has put Adam Rybicki and his family through.

Speaking of Adam, Jim Lyle sends word that he continues to make slow, steady progress in recovery from his injuries. And that he’s back on a bike — even if it is a stationary bike in rehab.

That’s a lot more than most of us would have expected — or even dared to hope — just nine months ago. He’s clearly one tough, determined guy, with a support circle that refuses to give up.

I hope you’ll join me in offering my best wishes and prayers for Adam and his family for a full recovery. 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Legal Cases / Tags: , , , , , , ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee