Tag Archive for road rage

Morning Links: Road raging drivers and pedestrians around the world, and a Montrose movement to reward riders

September 20, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Road raging drivers and pedestrians around the world, and a Montrose movement to reward riders

Let’s start off today with a pair of truly horrific road raging stories from the Boston area that once again drive home just who we share the roads with.

In the first, a tow truck driver is in critical condition following a fatal collision.

Just not from the crash.

After he struck and killed a woman as she was crossing the street, her son pulled out a knife and stabbed him five times, shouting “You killed my mom!”

The driver swore he didn’t see her as he ran around the truck trying to escape.

In the second, a road raging driver intentionally ran down a pair of scooter riders for the crime of not using the bike lane.

The victims can be seen clinging to the hood of the driver’s car as she flees after running over their scooters.

Fortunately, they only suffered minor injuries, and the driver was quickly captured, according to a Boston news site.

Pires, of Cambridge, was arrested and brought back to the Everett Police Department, where she was charged with four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury and driving to endanger.

Steve forwards a photo of the ghost bike that was installed last night for the victim in Monday’s fatal crash in the San Fernando Valley; the victim still has not been publicly identified. 

Let that be another reminder to ride — and drive — safely and defensively at all times.

………

Evidently, he was telling the truth.

A road raging London driver who told several bike riders he was driving a stolen car as he deliberately swerved at them, and threatened to run them over, has pled guilty to auto theft and dangerous driving, as well as a number of other charges.

Here’s the video of the assault to refresh your memory.

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Local

Montrose cyclist Sean Hall has started the No Braques movement to reward riders who push the limits, with cash out of his own pocket.

 

State

A map prepared by UC Davis shows where in California animals are most likely to end up as roadkill. Make sure the roads you ride aren’t on there. Because you don’t want to end up as roadkill, either.

The California Coastal Commission has approved plans to add a 10-foot wide multi-use path to an existing train trestle over the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz.

 

National

Bicycling looks at the problem of cultural appropriation in the bike industry, and four companies that are doing it right. The story they cite of Czech brand Apache Bicycles is seriously cringe inducing.

Caught on video: A Portland bike rider is nearly run down by someone driving in a two-way plastic-post protected bike lane without headlights.

A local Reno NV website visits the Interbike bike industry trade show to look at the latest products, including a stop at ex-Tour de France winner Floyd Landis’ cannabis-infused Floyd’s of Leadville booth. Am I the only one who continues to be amused by a former cyclist who was stripped of his title for doping getting into the pot business?

A Mashable writer joins in on a 600-mile ride from Irvine to Interbike on an ebike. But no, Irvine’s Brian Sarmiento was far from the first person to bike to the Vegas-based Interbike from out of town; I’ve known a number of people who rode from LA to Vegas for the show over the years.

Speaking of Reno, the city will dedicate a new bike path alongside a highway in honor of a woman who was killed on her way to a California bike race three years ago.

Santa Fe police have purchased a bike sonar device to enforce the city’s five-foot passing law; the device goes on an officer’s handlebars, and measures the distance to a passing car. We’ve tried to talk the LAPD into trying the same device, without any success so far.

A Colorado Springs CO newspaper displays its windshield bias with an editorial that calls on the city to stop impeding traffic by building bike lanes; readers have mixed opinions on their success. Thanks to Frank Lehnerz for the heads-up.

A Texas teenager refused to give up when her local city council wouldn’t listen, and went back a second time to demand safer streets after her friend was killed as he was riding his bike.

A Minneapolis woman fulfills a promise to herself by biking to work for the first time, and discovers she actually likes it.

A Detroit clothing store is teaming with a bike co-op to conduct a third annual bike drive; the drive has collected 400 bikes for local kids in its first two years.

Indianapolis sheriff’s deputies stopped a fleeing bike rider who failed to register as a sex offender by crashing into him head-on; bystanders accused the deputies of doing it on purpose.

A writer for Bicycle Times describes how the 275-mile Boston to New York Cycle for the Cause ride gave him hope during the AIDS crisis.

The owners of a mom-and-pop bike shop in Tennessee will lead a fundraising ride to fight human trafficking.

A Concord, New Hampshire paper calls for ticketing delivery vehicles blocking bike lanes.

 

International

No bias here. Bike Radar asks if shaved legs are hot or not. Never mind that some of their readers might be women who shave their legs for reasons that have nothing to do with bicycling.

The Conservative party leaders in Quebec intend to cut the size of Toronto’s city council, because “All (the) city council wants to do is build bicycle lanes.” Which seems like a pretty good reason to keep it just the way it is.

The Sun explains what’s going on with Saturday’s World Car Free Day. Which will be observed in Los Angeles by most people continuing to drive everywhere, as usual.

An Irish woman turned to bicycling to quit smoking, cut back on drinking and revamp her lifestyle.

Cyclist examines noteworthy classic bikes from Italian bikemaker Bianchi in words and pictures.

Photos of Israeli highways on Yom Kippur that look like CicLAvia.

Caught on video too: An Aussie bike rider is nearly run down by a motorist in an SUV who was driving in a bike lane.

Verge says Trump’s trade war with China could put the brakes on American bike riders.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling News takes a deep dive into whether women could handle racing a three-week Grand Tour.

It’s been a year since study abroad company EF Education First rescued America’s longest-running WorldTour squad from extinction.

Bicycling profiles Rwanda’s first women’s pro cyclist.

 

Finally…

If you’ve been drinking underage, put a damn light on your bike — and don’t resist arrest. Yes, it’s against the law to run over people on bikes. No, really.

And if your local velodrome is closing, just buy it, dismantle it, move it and rebuild it.

Easy, right?

………

The surprising generosity of BikinginLA readers this week continues to blow me away. So let me thank Steven K, Tyrone C and Gold Leaf Films for their generous donations to help support this site. 

As we’ve been saying all week, if everyone who visits this site today donated just $10, it would be more than enough to keep it going for a full year.

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Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia on September 30th!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: South Figueroa Complete Street project opens next week, and updates on OC court cases

August 22, 2018 / / One comment

The long awaited My Figueroa Complete Streets project will finally open a week from tomorrow.

City officials will open the long-delayed makeover of the iconic South Figueroa corridor with an official ribbon cutting, as well as walking and biking tours.

Although not everyone is happy with the unprotected, cab-blocked bike lanes by Staples Center, the pedestrian beg buttons required to cross the street, and the interminable bicycle red lights that give drivers clear priority over people on bikes on a street that’s supposed to serve everyone.

LADOT has promised they’re still fine-tuning the street, but I’m hearing complaints that too many compromises were made to get everyone to sign off on the My Figueroa project.

Let’s hope they get it fixed before Angeleno bike riders write off the remade Figueroa as just another incomplete, auto-centric LA street.

Meanwhile, nothing has been done at all on North Figueroa, which remains just as deadly as ever.

………

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from our anonymous OC correspondent, who checks in today with a number of updates on outstanding court cases.

Along with a little justified criticism of yours truly.

Hi, here’s a few overdue updates on OC cases, along with some typical ranting.

………

(Alleged) murderer Justin Scott German was released from custody on August 10th on $1mil bond. His preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for September 17th. No surprise that this bartender was on probation for DUI at the time of the killing.

………

Baby-faced rager Pratiti Mehta is facing a slew of charges: unsafe right turn, unsafe lane change, unsafe operation of a motor vehicle causing injury, hit and run causing injury, and oh yeah, ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON with an enhancement for great bodily injury. And since her fleeing ass provided false information to the investigating officers, there’s another charge.

………

The Rita Faye McLaughlin case drags on and on and on. Last fall, I skipped a “pretrial” hearing. Turns out, it wasn’t yet another pretrial. It was the victim impact hearing. The victim’s siblings and daughter were there, and Rita Faye was supposed to plead. But she changed her mind. The jury trial was scheduled to begin on the 16th, but has been delayed again.

………

Jason Roy Rocha‘s case is also dragging. There will be no good outcome; he needs extensive mental health maintenance and he needs to be permanently banned from operating a motor vehicle, but neither of these things will happen.

………

Taylor Russell Evans pleaded guilty in June and is currently serving 364 days in County. His prelim on June 11th was canceled because he accepted a plea bargain, and sentencing was the following week (I skipped both because I had that gimongous facial hematoma)*. He’ll probably be out by Thanksgiving, and his victim will probably still be dead.

*(Editor’s note: Our correspondent was hit by a driver while riding, suffering what the police consider minor injuries.)

………

Not bike collisions, but Bani Duarte, who was interrupted by officers as she was packing her suitcase to flee the country, will be allowed out if she raises $4mil bail.

And imagine if Garrett James McKinnon injured 12 people in two separate firearms incidents, instead of using a car.

………

Can you stop lauding the OCDA sooo highly? I remind you that killer Becki Lee James was acquitted after she ran down a cyclist, from behind, in broad daylight, inside a 23′ lane, even though her victim was riding in the door zone. The deputy DA at the trial sprawled out in his seat like Dwight the Surly Teen and was clearly irritated to be in the courtroom. The DA absolutely failed to provide the level of prosecution the case deserved, and James is still out there driving around.

Young Dylan Rand-Luby served his 90 days in the cushy pay-to-stay section of Santa Ana’s jail, and is going on about his life.

I was sooo hopeful that the OCDA’s Vehicular Homicide Team would be be brave enough to set some precedent and prosecute on murder/DUI-marijuana charges, but they’ve decided not to go for murder, and so far there are no charges at all.

There’s more, but we’ll save it for another day.

………

BikinginLA sponsor Josh Cohen offers a good explanation of California’s comparative liability law, which could cut the amount you receive in any settlement if a jury finds you’re partly at fault in a crash.

On the other hand, it could also allow you to receive something, even if you’re the one who screwed up.

………

Local

The Los Angeles Public Library has a bouncing baby bakfiets book bike, which was donated to the Baldwin Hills branch by the LACBC.

LADOT and CD3 Councilmember Bob Blumenfield are hosting a public workshop to discuss street improvements for Winnetka Ave between Vanowen St and Victory Blvd next Wednesday.

Bloomberg says forget vaporware tech promises, and just build a decent sidewalk that would allow fans to walk to Dodger Stadium.

A bill just signed by Governor Brown will allow the County of Los Angeles to develop a program to get employers to encourage their workers to use alternative forms of transportation, including bicycling.

 

State

No surprise here, as the San Francisco driver who allegedly admitted he was drunk after running down and killing a bike rider has pled not guilty, with his attorney calling it just a “tragic accident.” He faces a murder count due to two previous DUI convictions, which led to a warning under state law that he could be charged with murder if he killed someone while under the influence.

San Francisco bike advocates want to end the city’s cap on bikeshare ebikes.

Police in Elk Grove turned to Facebook to find the owner of a Colnago Extreme C racing bike after busting a burglar. Seriously, register your bikes, already. It doesn’t cost anything, and will give police a much easier way to find you if something like this happens.

 

National

The national Vision Zero Network says it will focus on managing and reducing speeds, while defending the program against cities that treat it like a tag line or a PR campaign. Like Los Angeles, for instance.

Bicycling says bicycling — lower case — is the best way to banish the blues. Unless, of course, you’re sad because you can’t ride for some reason, in which case you’re screwed.

A writer for Bicycling says keep your feet out of our bike lanes.

DIY advice on how to wall mount your bike.

Portland’s Community Cycling Center is looking for a new Director of Equity, Engagement and People.

A Utah man suffered cuts and bruises, and broken glasses, when he was assaulted by a bike rider who objected to the man’s dogs being off-leash on a shared use trail. Seriously, just… don’t. No matter how justified you may think your anger is, violence is never the answer.

No bias here. A Colorado music professor is being blamed for a fatal suicide swerve into the side of a passing tanker truck. A more likely explanation is the truck driver passed too close at too high a speed, in violation of the state’s three-foot passing law, and the victim got sucked into the truck’s slipstream.

The subway apocalypse predicted for New York when the L-train shuts down for 15 months of maintenance next year could be a boon for buses and bicycling in the city.

A group of DC Eagle Scouts just earned their bicycling across the US merit badge.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. DC is fixing a bike lane and intersection where a bike rider was killed earlier this summer.

Arlington VA is conducting a trial next month to see how well bicycling volunteers can deliver emergency supplies and messages following a disaster. But oddly, they’re charging people to participate.

A North Carolina newspaper says if the city is bike friendly, where are the bike lanes?

 

International

The Guardian says urban walking could save humanity.

Bike riding is growing in Toronto, even as the BBC calls it the worst city in the world for bicycling.

London’s Scotland Yard has developed a “shocking” 360° virtual reality film to show the dangers of riding a bike near large trucks.

A member of the British Parliament accepted an invitation to ride with a bicyclist after his Conservative party sent out a since-deleted tweet promising a crackdown on dangerous bicycling. Many, if not most, of LA’s elected officials agreed to meet and ride with bicyclists when they filled out candidate questionnaires from the LACBC, but to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever held them to that. Maybe we should change that.

Seriously? A UK study shows Millennials are spending more on hobbies, including bicycling, than their elders, because they have to have the latest fashionable gear and most up-to-date equipment. Which is the exact opposite of most bike riding Millennials I know, but sounds like a lot of older riders.

A pair of British men now officially own the world record for circumnavigating the globe by tandem, riding over 18,000 miles in a little more than 290 days. Speaking of which, tandems are in again.

This is why you have to ride carefully around horses. A woman in the UK suffered a punctured lung when a bike rider tried to pass between her horse and the curb without announcing his presence. Seriously, equestrians can be self-righteous jerks when it comes to demanding exclusive rights to trails and bridges, but both rider and mount can be seriously injured if the horse gets frightened.

The London driver caught on video deliberately swerving at a group of bike riders wasn’t lying when he said the car was stolen; he faces multiple charges for car theft and driving without a license.

A new British government program will spend the equivalent of $645,000 to train driving instructors to teach bicycle awareness to their students.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Continental Jelly Belly-Maxxis team could be on its way out after 18 years, after Jelly Belly announces it’s pulling out at the end of this year.

An Indiana mountain biker is still winning races after 25 years.

 

Finally…

Apparently, you ride like a moose. An injured goose’s goose isn’t  cooked, thanks to a pair of bike riders.

And evidently, there were no major advances in road bikes before 1948.

 

Category: Legal Cases, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Help keep Rowena safe next Wednesday, and London bike riders attacked by road raging driver

August 3, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Help keep Rowena safe next Wednesday, and London bike riders attacked by road raging driver

Keep Rowena Safe urges you to show up at Wednesday’s meeting of the excessively named Transportation and Neighborhood Safety Committee of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council.

And ask why they would even consider undoing the road diet on Rowena Ave, which has proven itself successful in slowing traffic and improving safety.

Once again putting the imagined convenience of a few motorists over the safety of everyone else, and the livability of the entire community.

Then again, you might want to put the same questions to Councilmember David Ryu, since it was his office that shelled out $80,000 to study making Rowena more dangerous again.

………

London bicyclists are stunned when an aggressive motorist deliberately drives at a long line of riders in a marked bike path, then threatens them with his car when they catch up to him.

………

Local

Santa Clarita sheriff’s deputies wrote 67 tickets during yesterday’s four-hour bike and pedestrian safety operation, mostly for distracted driving. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Santa Monica-based Bird announces plans to donate $1 per day for every scooter in operation to help build more bike lanes. While that could quickly add up to a lot of money, the real problem is developing the political backing to build bike lanes, rather than finding the funding, as we’ve repeatedly seen in Los Angeles.

 

State

VeloNews talks with San Diego’s SportRX about what to look for in prescription bicycling glasses, and reviews several models. Full disclosure: SportRX provided me with a pair of prescription Oakleys several years ago, which are still by far the best glasses I’ve ever owned, for bicycling or anything else. And getting them was one of the easiest processes I’ve gone through, without ever setting foot in the store. 

Orange County is considering options for a bike path along Avenida La Plata between San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.

A Highland bicyclist takes issue, at great length, with the new law clarifying that bicyclists who ride off after crashing into someone on a bike path can be charged with hit-and-run.

Santa Barbara police will be out in force to take the fun out of enforce traffic laws during the annual Fiesta Cruiser Ride this Sunday.

Talk about not getting it. A Santa Maria newspaper complains that removing a whopping 24 parking spaces next to a Solvang park to make room for bike lanes would ruin “Solvang’s tourism quaint, wow factor.” And that encouraging more bicycling — without removing a single traffic lane — would somehow force drivers off the street and into the surrounding neighborhood. As if anyone visits the faux Dutch community to see its quaint parking spaces.

 

National

USA Today offers a long list of guided bike tours to get you back on your bike, after first reciting a brief history of the bicycle, in case you’ve forgotten.

Bicycling offers advice on how to ride in gravel and other uneven surfaces.

Streetsblog questions why “bull bar” grill attachments are the hot fashion accessory for US police vehicles, when they’re outlawed abroad, and deadly for any pedestrians who get in their way. I’m less concerned about police using them than I am the jerks in massive pickups and SUVs who insist on putting them on their trucks for no apparent reason.

Your next bike helmet could be printed, not manufactured. Then again, so could the bike you use it on.

Dockless bikeshare companies are bailing on the Big D after Dallas developed regulations requiring the companies to pay for the number of bikes or scooters they have on the streets; just 3,500 bikes remain compared to a peak of 20,000.

A couple of Chicago kids achieve their goal of riding their bikes a total of 100 miles over summer vacation, turning it into a chance for three generations to ride together. While that’s something to be proud of, someone should tell the reporter that a 13.5 mile ride is no big deal for a lot of people. Even kids.

Evidently, athleticism runs in the family, as the great-grandfather of NFL All Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski was a star of the Buffalo NY bike racing circuit in the 1920s.

Good for him. A Philadelphia bike rider sues a hotel and its valet parking manager for blocking a bike lane.

A Delaware city is using stenciled messages on the sidewalk to tell riders over 12 to walk their bikes. That’s actually a good idea. In too many cities, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to tell whether and where you’re allowed to ride your bike on the sidewalk; putting a notice there removes any confusion.

DC bicyclists pair up with blind riders for weekly tandem rides.

Dockless bikeshare providers Mobike and Ofo have pulled out of DC, as well.

A former North Carolina sheriff’s lieutenant is riding his bike to recover from PTSD, after he was nearly beaten to death on the job more than 17 years ago.

 

International

London’s deputy mayor for transportation calls a local government council disgraceful for opposing plans for one of the city’s cycle superhighways, at the same time a bike rider was fighting for her life following a crash a few miles away.

You’ve got to be kidding. English social media users blew up when a driver complained about two bicyclists riding abreast on a quiet country road — which is perfectly legal in the UK — saying, “It doesn’t take a lot of my time to pass them – it’s the principle.”

The daughters of a fallen bike tourist says she would never have attempted riding the steep downhill on the Irish road where she was killed if there had been warning signs to tell her how dangerous it really was.

Australian bus drivers are put on bicycles to learn what it’s like to be passed by a bus, and how to drive around bike riders. Can we do that here, Metro? Pretty please?

Life is short in Singapore, where a bus driver got a whopping six weeks behind bars for a negligent crash that left a 36-year bike rider in a nursing home with permanent brain damage.

 

Competitive Cycling

Team Sky road captain Luke Rowe helped guide fellow Welshman Geraint Thomas to the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, one year after breaking his leg in 25 places while white water rafting.

Now that Thomas has won a Tour, he may chuck it all to take up triathlons.

Admit it. You always wanted to know more about the woman who rides a motorcycle with a chalkboard at the head of the peloton.

A day after we got a Roman Catholic look at the Tour de France, we get the Anglican view, as an English minister considers the parallels between the Christian faith and professional cycling.

CiclaValley uses the Tour to illustrate how cyclists are tougher than other athletes.

A local paper previews the prologue of the Tour of Utah, which kicks off on Saturday.

The initial rosters have been released for this month’s Colorado Classic.

 

Finally…

Yes, a bicycle and clothing are basic requirements for women who want to ride bikes. If you have to wave a flag just to cross a street, it should be a white one, instead.

And how to tell you’re a really crappy driver who probably shouldn’t be one.

 

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

Morning Links: Killer SUVs blamed for rise in traffic deaths, and road raging Brit driver blames victim for crash

July 2, 2018 / / One comment

So much for the myth of the texting pedestrian.

The Detroit Free Press says it’s not people walking while distracted that’s responsible for the 46% jump in pedestrian fatalities in recent years.

Or even the huge increase in distracted driving.

It’s the popularity of SUVs.

Or more precisely, the design of the popular vehicles, which have higher, flatter grills than cars that knock people forward and down to the pavement, rather than onto the hood of a car.

And making it more likely that the victim will be run over by the driver who hit them, or other vehicles on the road.

To make matters worse, federal safety regulators have known about the danger for years, but buried the news while people continued to die.

The same undoubtedly holds true for collisions with people on bicycles, which could help explain the rise in bike deaths, as well.

………

Or it could be due to people like this.

After a British driver hits a bike rider with his wing mirror, he and his passenger get out to scream at the victim, blaming him for hitting their van.

Which would be pretty much impossible, since the driver was passing him and clearly failed to give a safe passing distance.

Although I suppose it is possible that the victim might have suddenly started riding in reverse, and swerved out of his lane to hit the van. Though you’d think that might have show up on the video.

But still.

No driver would lie about something like that.

Right?

………

Local

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton questions how Metro’s Bus and Bike Only Lanes can be improved, especially on Sunset Blvd leading to Dodger Stadium, where Michael MacDonald was ordered out of the lane by an LAPD officer despite signs saying bikes are permitted.

CiclaValley goes riding in the new South Figueroa bike lane, and finds parked cabs and other cars.

The LA Lakers signed a pretty good bike rider to a four year contract. Someone should tell LeBron he needs to start reading BikinginLA now that he’s one of us.

This is what the lower LA River could look like if and when restoration efforts are completed.

They get it. A South Pasadena paper explains what sharrows are, and notes that bike riders have the same rights on any street, with or without those funny markings on the street.

 

State

No shit. The first-ever joint meeting between the California Air Resources Board and the California Transportation Commission ends with an agreement that people in the state have to drive less. But not, unfortunately, on how to make that happen.

Bicyclists say a stalled bike lane on San Francisco’s Embarcadero could have prevented a collision that left a pedicab driver critically injured.

A father falls in with his young daughter to ride with NFL star Marshawn Lynch and his cousin Josh Johnson as they bring the joy of riding bikes to over a thousand kids in Oakland, with professional BMX riders acting as ride marshals.

 

National

Bloomberg says e-scooters are changing the landscape of urban transport.

Las Vegas has earned a Silver level Bicycle Friendly Community status, in part because of road diets that have created space for bike lanes. Yet oddly, you don’t hear of Vegas residents rising up to fight them, right wing shock jocks railing against them, or city councilmembers cancelling them in fear of angry drivers.

A local writer discusses the joys of riding a bicycle around Las Cruces, New Mexico. All of which apply virtually anywhere, including here in Los Angeles.

The brother of a hit-and-run driver who killed a Texas bike rider was busted for aiding in the coverup afterwards, even though police have been unable to find the driver or his car. Thanks to Stephen Katz for the heads-up.

Yes, Black Girls Do Bike, even in Milwaukee.

A bike rider was injured in a collision with a garbage truck in New York’s Central Park, even though cars were banned from it two days earlier.

Challenged by city leaders to show why it needs a minimum width requirement for streets that has been blocking protected bike lanes, Baltimore’s fire department responds by making a video with one of their largest trucks showing it doesn’t fit in the lane. Not that it would ever actually be sent to a narrow street like that, according to a city councilmember.

Tragic news from Baton Rouge LA, where a city councilmember and long-time community advocate was killed when he and his riding partner were run down from behind by a 21-year old SUV driver, who was arrested on several charges, including negligent homicide; the other rider was hospitalized in serious condition. Bicyclists gathered last night for a ride of silence to honor the victim.

A Georgia driver ran down a pair of bicyclists from behind, injuring a mother and killing her 18-year old daughter.

 

International

Road.cc considers the whys and wheres of buying a bespoke bicycle.

Great idea. A network of six hundred bike owners have banded together to fight bike theft in Edmonton, Canada.

Sounding like bike riders in Los Angeles — and most other places — bicyclists in Winnipeg complain about gaps and odd designs in the city’s bike network; 75% of city residents say separated bike lanes are a good thing.

Toronto has seen a 1,500% increase in bicycling in the city’s urban core after bike lanes were installed in 2013, jumping from a few hundred to over 6,000 a day.

Good question. An Oxford, England columnist wants to know why bicyclists are always seen as the bad guys.

You’ve got to be kidding. A road raging Scottish driver was fined the equivalent of less than $1,000 for deliberately forcing a bike rider off the road after he was stuck behind a group of riders; he also lost his driver’s license for two years.

Cute piece from a writer in the UK, who wants to know why bicyclists aren’t accepted as normal people, as he wakes up “at the crack of dawn to slide into (his) tight-fitting lycra mankini.”

Over half of British drivers are unaware of the country’s safe passing distance. The government has announced the equivalent of $1.32 million to crack down on unsafe passing, though the Guardian says the country needs to significantly boost funding to reap the benefits of the current bike boom.

Nice gesture. America’s only remaining Tour de France winner joins with two Holocaust survivors and a few hundred other people to bike 55 miles from Auschwitz-Birkenau to a Jewish cultural center in Poland.

A Philippine writer goes bicycling and beer drinking in Berlin.

A Moroccan man is making his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca by bicycle, traveling over 18,000 miles and through every city in Morocco to promote peace.

Seventy Saudi bicyclists will join the 500-mile Global Biking Initiative, riding from Gutenberg, Sweden to Hamburg, Germany to raise funds for charity.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Guardian talks with Fabian Cancellara, who says he wants to inspire people to get on their bikes.

Four time Tour de France winner Chris Froome has been disinvited from this year’s race, though a final decision won’t be known until later this week. Which may not matter, since he was just cleared of doping charges, despite a failed drug test.

Former women’s road cyclist Allison Tetrick tells the story of how she rebounded from a serious traumatic brain injury to winning this year’s Dirty Kanza 200-mile gravel race.

 

Finally…

The grudge race of the century — or maybe just the week — ends with a drop and a cookie. When you need an all-terrain vehicle to tow your surfboard, but still want to ride a bike.

And she’s still bringing home cycling medals at age 77.

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

Morning Links: Closer to ID of Twitter driver pushing cyclist, Justice for Woon, and new bike lanes on La Tuna

June 29, 2018 / / 2 comments

Maybe we’re just a little closer to identifying one of the road raging drivers we linked to on Twitter yesterday.

The violent attack shown below, where a driver tweeted video of himself pushing a bicyclist off his bike from a passing car, probably occurred in Northern Ireland’s Londonderry County.

No word on the identity or condition of the rider.

And video of the attack still hasn’t been taken down by Twitter, nor has the person responsible been banned from the site.

Preferably for life.

Let’s at least hope Twitter has informed the authorities about his real ID and location.

Because this video is both evidence of a crime. And a confession.

https://twitter.com/DarkestJedi/status/1011620566422441988

Hopefully there’s a new set of bracelets waiting for this jerk.

………

Local

KCAL-9 reports from last night’s memorial for fallen rider Frederick “Woon” Frazier, as his mother and friends demand justice for the driver who ran his down and left him to die on a South LA street; 23-year old Mariah Kandise Banks still hasn’t been charged despite turning herself in May 11th as police were closing in.

CiclaValley takes a look at the desperately needed new semi-buffered bike lane on deadly La Tuna Canyon.

 

State

A San Francisco pedicab driver suffered life-threatening injuries when his bike was hit by a driver on the Embarcadero, where plans call for an as yet unbuilt protected bike lane. A GoFundMe account has been set up for the victim.

Sacramento is installing a new painted bike lane, but advocates are angry it’s not protected.

 

National

Curbed considers the potential boost bikeshares can receive from ebikes.

Bicycling looks at how mindfulness can help make you a better bicyclist. I’ve often used riding as a form of moving meditation to find peace and insight, on and off the bike.

An Iowa newspaper says the public deserves answers to what happened when a 79-year old woman was killed in a collision with a hit-and-run bike rider, even if no charges are warranted. Although the police later said they were looking into it after all.

Nashville is investing in wayfinding signs, complete with distance and estimated riding time to popular destinations. Needless to say, in LA you’re on your own.

It’s life behind bars after all for the Tennessee driver who fled the scene after knocking a man off his bike on the Natchez Trace; he’s on his way to jail after violating his probation by swilling a half pint of vodka every day.

Family members and New York politicians demand justice for a four-year old hit-and-run victim, after police said the driver didn’t know he or she had just run over the girl and her mother was they walked on the sidewalk. Seriously, you have to be pretty damned drunk or distracted to not know you hit two people hard enough to kill one of them.

The former track star who ran down a Florida father as he rode on a bike path with his sons had turned himself in at a police station two weeks earlier, threatening to hurt someone if he was allowed to leave — then attacked his public defender after he was detained on a mental health hold.

 

International

A new Canadian survey says bike riders are responsible for most of the conflict on the roads, even though a British study shows just the opposite; people in Winnipeg bucked the trend by blaming the people on four wheels.

The same survey suggests how Canadians feel about bike lanes depends on what city they live in. Speaking of which, women in Hamilton, Ontario rode to city hall in sundresses to demand bike lanes.

Toronto has approved an additional $22 million in Vision Zero funds to go with $13 million approved earlier in the year, after the fail of the program up to this point.

A Toronto paper watched a busy intersection for an hour at rush hour, as drivers blocked the intersection or the crosswalk on nearly every red light cycle. An experiment that would probably have exactly the same results here in Los Angeles.

A Toronto op-ed says life-saving traffic solutions already exist, and it’s time to use them.

Britain’s Cyclist magazine looks at the best small and lightweight bike locks. The best bike lock is the one you’ll actually take with you and use.

Cyclist also visits Italy’s legendary Colnago factory, maker of some of the world’s most beautiful and historic performance bicycles.

Denmark has approved the use of “super” ebikes capable of doing 27 mph, which would require a helmet and motorcycle license in California.

 

Competitive Cycling

Eleven-time world track cycling champ Kristina Vogel is in stable condition after undergoing spinal surgery following a crash with another rider at nearly 40 mph; no word on her prognosis.

Writing for Cycling Tips, Peter Flax looks forward to the greatest race between now and next week’s Tour de France, with the not-so-grudging grudge match between Fabian Cancellara and LA’s own Phil Gaimon. This all started when Gaimon accused Cancellara of motor doping in one of his books, so maybe the race will look something like this.

Business Insider takes a ride on a $13,000 Tour de France bike.

Cycling scion Taylor Phinney will ride his second Tour de France in support of Columbian Rigoberto Uran.

 

Finally…

Canadian ‘bent riders were run off the road by an apparently driverless SUV. Someone tell Geico they should have settled.

And if the gate is always locked, how are alarmed pedestrians supposed to get out?

Photo from Beverly Press

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Lawsuit filed over Venice Blvd road diet, and road raging drivers around the world

June 28, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Lawsuit filed over Venice Blvd road diet, and road raging drivers around the world

Traffic safety deniers Restore Venice Boulevard has become just the latest group to abuse California’s CEQA laws in an effort to keep our streets dangerous and unlivable.

The organization has filed suit under the banner of a newly formed nonprofit group, Westside Los Angeles Neighbors Network.

The group is attempting to halt expansion of the Venice Blvd Great Streets project to Lincoln Blvd, as well as what it says are similar projects on Pico Blvd, Motor Ave and Centinela Ave adopted under the Livable Boulevards Streetscapes Plan recently passed by the city council.

The Venice lawsuit, and others like it that were filed in response to the since reversed road diets in Playa del Rey, point out the desperate need for CEQA reform, which was never intended to block non-polluting bikeway projects, or other efforts to cut smog-belching automobile traffic.

They may like Venice Blvd just the way it used to be.

But the city will never survive if we don’t take steps to provide viable alternatives to driving now.

As well as undoing the damage done to our neighborhoods by decades of auto-centric policies on Venice, and countless other streets through LA.

………

Today’s common theme is road raging drivers.

Or more precisely, road raging drivers attacking people on bicycles.

In a five-part Twitter story, a Sacramento cyclist records a driver who buzzed him, then pulled over to threaten to cut his throat. Only to discover that the CHP didn’t really care.

But to her credit, Burbank state Assemblywoman Laura Friedman does.

Witnesses report that a North Carolina driver appeared to accelerate as he drifted off the roadway and slammed into a bike rider, before fleeing the scene.

A British Columbia bike rider was followed by a horn-blaring driver who pulled over and attempted to intentionally door her.

It’s hard to catch at first, but the rider of a possibly stolen motorcycle swerved onto the wrong side of the road to attempt to kick a British man off his bicycle.

………

Jerry Seinfeld is one of us, as he goes bike shopping with Zach Galifianakisz.

………

CicLAvia’s Tafari Bayne demonstrates how to get to the California African American Museum by bike and train.

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Local

A group of Ukrainian military vets set out from Los Angeles last month on a 6,200-mile ride across North America to call attention to the ongoing conflict.

Apparently not grasping the concept, Pasadena residents call for more free parking, fewer e-scooters and moving bike lanes to a side street at a meeting to update the General Plan for the town’s central business district, conflicting with requirements for sustainability and improved carfree circulation.

Good piece by Curbed’s Alissa Walker, who says people are not defined by what they use to get around, and that transportation stereotypes can make the streets more dangerous.

CiclaValley makes an escape to Mount Baldy.

 

State

Sure, tell us again about those entitled cyclists. California voters appear poised to repeal the state’s recent gas tax increase, imperiling plans to repair the states roads and bridges, as well as funding alternative forms of transportation. Seriously, anyone who votes against the gas tax should be permanently prohibited from ever complaining about bad roads or traffic.

San Diego’s mayor, former police chief and a radio host will team together for a 760-mile bike ride down the California coast to raise money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

More proof there are still good people in the world. A triathlete competing in the Big Bear Triathlon dropped out of the race to perform CPR on a runner who had stopped breathing, even though he was in second place in the race.

An extreme athlete known as the Bionic Woman stopped in Apple Valley on her attempt to become the first woman with a prosthetic leg to ride unsupported across the US.

Folsom is working to complete the city’s first Class IV protected bike lane, which will be colored red to call drivers’ attention to it.

San Francisco discusses how to bring the Bay Area’s docked bikeshare system to the Bayview/Hunter’s Point neighborhood.

Sad news from Eureka, where a bike rider died a week after he was struck by the driver of a truck. Note to CHP: If the victim was struck by the rear wheels of a timber truck doing up to 35 mph, it really doesn’t matter if he was wearing a helmet. Seriously.

 

National

A writer for VeloNews says ebikes can be life-changing for bicyclists with a medical condition.

Bicycling talks with famed stunt cyclist Danny MacAskill, and learns the secret to learning backflips.

Writing for Cycling Savvy, a bike rider says it’s safer to get off your bike and walk for a few minutes when drivers are blinded by the sun’s glare.

The rich get richer. Portland bicyclists will get new protected corners and bike lanes at a complicated multi-angle intersection.

A Colorado town is conducting a trial project to determine the effectiveness of sharrows, as well as buffered and separated bike lanes. Because they can’t just look at the results of projects just like those already in use around the world.

Drivers are convinced that plastic bollards along a bike lane in Jackson Hole WY have narrowed the nearly 11-foot traffic lanes and made it impossible to move wide loads, even though officials insist the lanes haven’t been narrowed an inch. A local columnist doesn’t like them one bit.

An Iowa bike rider is dead, and his wife and four-year old son injured, because an 83-year old driver picked the wrong time to adjust his mirror.

An Irish man visits a crash site to call for safe streets, five years after he was nearly killed when a driver hit his bike while riding to work in Cape Cod, leaving him confined to a wheel chair; his father called the police investigation biased after they concluded his son turned in front of the truck. Which is what police investigations usually conclude when they don’t — or can’t — talk to the victim first.

For once, a fallen New York bike rider gets justice, as a drunk driver gets 15 years for slamming into a group of riders participating in a bike tour, killing one and injuring three others; he was fleeing at a high rate of speed after crashing into a car while trying to park.

 

International

Vancouver bike rental shops are complaining about unfair competition from a Chinese dockless bikeshare system. Which is something SoCal bike rental companies are starting to complain about, as well.

He gets it. A Vancouver writer says there are no winners in the inevitable social media fights over bicycles, but bicyclists are the losers when it spills onto the streets.

An Ottawa news story describes shoaling as sexism in the bike lane. Which is probably true in many cases, even though it happens to men, as well.

Quebec bike riders are now prohibited from wearing earbuds or using an electronic device while riding, while drivers face an automatic license suspension for a second offense within a two-year period for even handling any electronic device.

A Toronto columnist says good intersection design makes it easier for everyone to navigate, whether by two wheels or four. Meanwhile, a Toronto councilor wants the city to investigate using cargo bikes instead of trucks to ship freight.

Unbelievable. An English police chief apologizes to the widow of a fallen bike rider for bungling the investigation into his death; officers never examined the car of the person who claimed to have found him, even though he could be heard over the phone arguing with a woman over whether their car had struck the victim.

An English Premier League referee and his friend rode their bikes 1,700 miles through seven countries to watch England play in the World Cup.

Lime is bringing its e-scooters to Paris with the blessing of city officials.

A new study shows 30% of the people who took part in an Indian ciclovía bought bicycles afterwards.

A South African official warns bike riders to stay off freeways and toll roads that have seen a “dangerous influx of bicycles.” However, given the country’s high rate of violent crime and reports of bike riders being attacked for their bikes and other belongings, it’s understandable that some might prefer to take their chances with high-speed drivers, legally or otherwise.

Kiwi cyclists are applauding $1.1 billion in funding for bike and pedestrian projects.

 

Competitive Cycling

A new book about America’s only remaining Tour de France winner includes his role in the divorce between Lance and Nike.

 

Finally…

LA bike riders were lucky to score CLIF Bars; Denver bicyclists get fresh pancakes and breakfast burritos. If you can’t ban cars, just remove their parking spaces.

And where to turn when you feel the need for $5,000 bike socks spun by a rare olden silk orb weaver spider.

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

Morning Links: South Bay bike advocate Julian Katz died, an LA Rapha ride, and who we share the roads with

June 9, 2018 / / One comment

We have a lot of news to catch up on after missing yesterday’s Morning Links.

We’ll get to as much as we can today, and the rest Monday to make sure you don’t miss anything.

………

Sad news from the South Bay, where the Easy Reader News reports longtime bike advocate Julian Katz has died of prostate cancer at age 88.

According to the paper,

Katz was a longtime board member of the South Bay Bicycle Coalition and a former Hermosa Beach Public Works commissioner. Fellow coalition board member Jim Hannon recalled Katz as a dedicated public servant who zealously pursued his goals while maintaining a low profile and kindly demeanor. As a member of the coalition, Katz helped ensure passage of the Beach Cities Bicycle Master Plan. Hannon pointed to the installation of sharrows on Hermosa Avenue as a cause Katz pushed for that created immediate benefits.Nice

A memorial ride in Katz honor will leave from the Manhattan Beach Pier at 10 am tomorrow.

You can make a tax deductible donation in Katz honor to support bicycle safety for students at 186th Street Elementary through the South Bay Bicycle Coalition.

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Nice LA-based ad from Rapha says riding is the answer.

Or as Adweek puts it, life is less crappy when you get off your phone and on a bike.

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This is who we share the roads with.

A road raging Sacramento driver did what nearly every bicyclist has wanted do at one time or another, but had the sense not to.

He repeatedly rammed a parked car with his SUV, before getting out and jumping on the roof until police came to take him away.

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Local

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti has pledged a carbon-neutral Los Angeles by 2050. Which won’t be possible without a major increase in bicycling and walking, as well as dramatically increased density. But it sounds nice, anyway.

You may still have time to make it to the East Side Riders Annual Appreciation Picnic at Athens Park this morning.

A new bicycling themed coffee shop called Super Domestic has opened across from Sony Studios in Culver City.

Santa Monica proposes a cap of 1,500 e-scooters in the city, eventually rising to 2,250; operators would have to pay a $20,000 annual fee, as well as $130 per scooter.

 

State

Six bicyclists on the AIDS/LifeCycle Ride were treated for eye irritation after they were gassed with tear gas that drifted across the road from the federal prison in Lompoc.

Santa Maria has rejected claims filed on behalf of a woman’s husband and her three kids after she was killed by a city bus while riding in a bike lane.

 

National

A fundraiser is being held for a Reno mountain biker who was injured after crashing into a pair of LimeBikes that had been improperly parked in a bike lane.

Bicycling lists nine “totally awesome” charity rides around the US.

GQ tells you everything you need to know before buying a bike for fitness. Best advice: Give your favorite wrench a beer or two.

Men’s Journal reviews the best bike locks.

Good question. Treehugger wants to know why ebikes don’t get the same kind of government support electric cars do.

Salt Lake City has a new bicycle-themed bar for people who like bikes. Or appreciate long, twisty mustaches.

Colorado National Monument puts up signs warning drivers about bikes on the road, as part of a test to see if they’ll actually slow down. The drivers, not the bikes. Or the signs.

They get it. Business owners in Butte MT are pushing for more business from bicyclists.

Wisconsin-based Trek has settled a lawsuit with the family of Chris Farley after the bikemaker named its new fat bike “Farley.”

LA bike riders get Clif Bars for Bike to Work Day; Wisconsin riders get Bacon on the Bike Path.

Chicago police are using bicycle traffic stops to make gun and drug arrests in communities of color. Which is just one reason why City Lab asks if it’s time to reconsider traffic stops.

A memorial has been unveiled for the five victims of the Kalamzoo massacre.

A Dayton, Ohio man was killed when he rode his bike into oncoming traffic while fleeing from police, because he didn’t want to be jailed and miss the birth of his first child. Now he definitely will.

A Maine bike rider spent seven months tracking down the nurse who saved his life after he severed his jugular crashing into a parked car while riding with his head down.

Boston decides to make its bus and bike lane pilot project permanent.

A Queens community council votes to block plans for a protected bike lane where a rider was killed last year.

Unbelievable. An Atlanta bike rider struck by a truck whose driver had been shot in the head, after a man fired warning shots during an argument a block away; fortunately, both victims survived, though the driver is in critical condition.

 

International

Road.cc looks at the best mudguards to keep your backside dry.

Heartbreaking story of an Ontario bike rider on a charity ride who stopped to help a rider who’d fallen after blowing a tire, then was killed when a driver plowed into him and three other people on the side of the road.

Eight Quebec cities to add to your bicycle bucket list.

A writer for the Guardian says the London mayor’s time in office will be a failure if he can’t overcome a vote blocking a proposal to turn the city’s busy Oxford Street into a pedestrian mall.

A London bike rider lets his air horn do the talking when people walk in the bike lane. Seriously, don’t do that.

Sad news from Wales, where a mountain biker was killed crashing into a tree on a trail he designed himself.

The war cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on. A Welsh rider was knocked unconscious after someone tied a string at neck height across a bike trail. And no, it’s not a sick prank; it’s a terrorist attack intended to injure or kill innocent people.

Caught on video: A British driver appears to deliberately swerve into a teenage bike bicyclist who was riding on the wrong side of the road, then threatens the woman who took the video.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 20-year old driver gets off with community service for killing a bicyclist, despite driving on the wrong side of the road with a clear view of the victim for at least 45 seconds prior to the crash.

A Dutch city will get the world’s first bike path paved entirely with recycled plastic.

A new bill under consideration in Australia would compensate bike riders for injuries suffered in a dooring or a collision with a vehicle, whether moving or parked. Better yet, it’s retroactive to 2014.

Thai bicyclists could be fined the equivalent of $15 for riding under the influence. But only if they’re caught on a main road; evidently, riding drunk on secondary road is fine.

 

Competitive Cycling

Awareness of the dangers of concussions is spreading through the pro peloton, but Rouleur argues the testing protocol needs to be made mandatory.

Britain’s most successful women’s mountain biker says her brothers were the ones who convinced her the sport was for girls.

Fallbrook pro cyclist Roger Ainslie has been banned for three and a half years after failing a drug test at the US Track National Championships. But sure, the doping era is over, right?

The Department of Defense — yes, that Department of Defense — writes about the bicycling competition at the recent DoD Warrior Games at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs CO.

Nice profile of Lance Armstrong, post legal settlement with the federal government. If anyone still cares.

 

Finally…

So maybe a no riding zone isn’t the best place for a bikeshare dock. When the new safety signs aren’t.

And when you’re invited to a garden party at Kensington Palace, by all means, ride your bike.

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Thanks to Mike W for his generous donation to help support this site. 

 

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

San Bernardino man killed while riding bike, innocent victim of road rage argument between two drivers

June 5, 2018 / / One comment

This morning, we mentioned a report that a man had been killed in a road rage dispute between a pair of San Bernardino drivers.

Sadly, that new has been confirmed.

The San Bernardino Sun reports that the victim was struck as he was crossing Fifth Street near Ramona Ave around 7 pm, collateral damage in a dispute between two drivers.

According to the paper, 32-year old Rosendo Ortiz and 28-year old Karina Saucedo, both from San Bernardino, became involved in a road rage incident as they headed east on Fifth near Meridian Ave.

They were still arguing as they approached Ramona, nearly two miles from where the incident started.

Ortiz crashed into the victim, identified as 45-year old San Bernardino resident Efrain Garcia. Saucedo, who was following slightly behind, crashed into a parked car to avoid them.

Garcia died at the scene; both drivers were reportedly cooperating with police.

Remarkably, no arrests were made at the scene. Anyone with information is urged to call San Bernardino Police Det. Peck at 909/384-5664.

If Garcia’s death really is the result of road rage, both drivers should face murder charges. But probably won’t.

This is at least the 23rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third in San Bernardino County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Efrain Garcia and all his loved ones. 

Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

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

Morning Links: BOLO Alert for bike-riding sexual assault suspect, and road and bike rage rears their ugly head

April 24, 2018 / / 2 comments

Beverly Hills police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a bike-riding sexual assault suspect who attempted to rape a woman early Sunday morning near the Beverly Hilton at Wilshire and Santa Monica Blvds.

He is described as a Hispanic man in his 30s, around 5’6″ with black hair pulled back in a ponytail and facial hair, riding a red single speed bicycle.

Police think someone in the bike community may know him due to his riding skills.

Anyone with information is urged to call BHPD detectives at 310/285-2158.

Security cam photos from Beverly Hills Police Department.

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Today’s common theme: road rage and bike rage rears their ugly head.

This is who we share the roads with. A driver in DTLA intentionally ran down four pedestrians because he was mad that they woke him up from a nap in his car.

A DC bike advocacy group discusses trail etiquette after a man was deliberately knocked off his bike by a rider passing in the opposite direction.

Bike anger rages even in the Netherlands, where a mountain biker pushed an 80-year old man off his bicycle after the older man complained about getting cut off. Seriously, it takes a special kind of jerk to attack an 80-year old man.

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Local

You can now use bikeshare systems in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and UCLA interchangeably with a single membership, and ride from one system to another without penalties.

Interesting piece from a part-time wrench in an LA bike shop, explaining to a Middle Eastern audience the business model of fixing bikes sold by big box stores so people can actually ride them.

A writer for City Watch calls LA Mayor Eric Garcetti a bully for doubling down on Vision Zero “based on lousy science, lousy presumptions, and a lousy narrative that somehow Angelenos don’t care or do enough for pedestrians and bicyclists.” Even though a) most bike riders can tell you Angelenos don’t car or do enough for pedestrians and bicyclists, and b) city leaders don’t seem to take Vision Zero seriously.

Streetsblog reports on Sunday’s CicLAvia in the San Gabriel Valley. Meanwhile, CicLAvia gears up for a return to the northern San Fernando Valley June 24th.

 

State

Auto-centric opponents of a plan to reconfigure the Coast Highway in Leucadia have appealed to the state Coastal Commission to stop the project, saying that the plan to make it safer to visit the coast without a car “fails to consider public access to the coastline, that fails to adequately consider public safety, and fails to give adequate consideration to environmental concerns.” Sure, let’s go with that.

San Diego’s University Avenue is one of the nation’s most dangerous streets for bicyclists.

Mountain bike legends Tom Richey and Thomas Frischknecht have teamed with a Carmel couple to open a bike-themed coffee shop.

Sad news from Manteca, where a bike rider was killed when he crashed into the rear of a pickup and fell under the wheels of the boat trailer it was pulling; witnesses said the victim didn’t appear to even see the truck and trailer in front of him until it was too late.

Sacramento begins installing the city’s first parking-protected bike lanes.

 

National

Honolulu honors a bike rider who was killed in a 2010 hit-and-run by naming a new bike path after him.

While Seattle fights over every inch of bike lanes, opposition has melted away in nearby Vancouver, where bicycling numbers are up and driving rates down after the city built a network of protected bike lanes. Vancouver faced the same sort of bikelash we’ve seen in Los Angeles, but city officials had the courage to move forward anyway.

The murder trial is set to begin in the case of the stoned driver who killed five bike riders in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, and injured four more; he faces life in prison if he’s convicted.

Bicycling catches up with five New York bicyclists to discuss their plans for getting to work when the city shuts down a major subway line for maintenance next year.

In a very tongue-in-cheek piece, a Virginia writer says he hates the Amish, farmers, equestrians and especially cyclists for startling him when he looks up from his phone while driving, and forcing him to slow down for a few seconds. But commenters don’t get the joke.

 

International

Next City offers an excerpt from Copenhagenize author Mikael Colville-Andersen’s new book explaining how design can reclaim our life-sized cities.

The Guardian looks at the international Warmshowers network, giving bike tourists a floor to sleep on, a place to clean up, and someone to listen to your tales of life on the road.

A pair of Hamilton, Ontario bike riders were struck by a 72-year old driver when they stopped in the curb lane to fix a bike trailer. Another reminder to move your bike out of the roadway if you need to stop for any reason, because too many drivers won’t be looking for you.

Road.cc looks at the highlights of Britain’s only handmade bicycle show.

The Beeb asks if ebikes are the future, while a travel website questions whether they’re the best or worst thing to happen to bike tours.

Dublin bicyclists will hold a die-in on the government steps tomorrow. Something we desperately need to do here in Los Angeles if we could get enough people to show up.

Italian cycling legend Gino Bartali will be awarded honorary Israeli citizenship prior to next month’s start of the Giro d’Italia for his role in saving Jews during World War II, 18 years after his death.

A Kiwi adventurer is stranded in South America after riding from Philadelphia to Alaska, then down the Pacific Coast, when a merger between shipping companies costs him his planned ride on a container ship.

There’s always another side to the story. A New Zealand mountain biker insists the trail crash that left another rider paralyzed from the neck down wasn’t his fault. On the other hand, he’s not the one who ended up in a wheelchair.

China’s Mobike dockless bikeshare company promises to stop putting more bikes in oversaturated cities, and to share their data with local governments.

 

Competitive Cycling

A Monterey County weekly catches up on the action with photos from last weekend’s Sea Otter Classic.

Bicycling reports on Saudi Arabia’s first-ever women’s bike race.

No surprise here: World champ Peter Sagan is cycling’s most valuable social media persona; one Facebook post alone generated $330,000 worth of exposure for his sponsors.

Efforts to revive the women’s La Route de France Féminine have failed after the withdrawal of a host city.

 

Finally…

Bad bike infrastructure doesn’t speak, but it does tweet. Pedal your way across the Greek islands from above.

And sometimes, riding a bike is poetry.

 

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

Morning Links: Forsyth Cup this Saturday, SGR Trail closure, and road raging driver assaults CO cyclist

April 10, 2018 / / One comment

Cancel your plans for the weekend.

BikinginLA sponsor Thomas Forsyth is hosting Wolfpack Hustle: The 2018 Forsyth Cup at the Encino Velodrome this Saturday, offering a full day of intense track cycling under the sun.

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The San Gabriel River Bike Trail will be closing for two weeks in Seal Beach later this month.

The pathway will be closed from 2nd Street to Marina Drive between 9 am to 3 pm, Monday through Friday, from April 23rd to May 4th. So plan to take another route for a few days.

Thanks to Michelle Mowery for the heads-up.

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As we’ve noted before, the war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real.

The latest example comes from Colorado, where a road raging SUV driver yelled at a pair of bicyclists after they made a safe and legal lane change, including signaling, to position themselves for a left turn.

Then circles back and physically assaults one of the riders for the imagined crime of flipping him off, which both riders denied doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O34xeuTgEq4&feature=youtu.be

Granted, things may be different in Colorado.

But LAPD officers have told me that a road raging driver can be charged with assault the moment he or she leaves a vehicle to confront someone, whether or not they actually become violent.

Something to remember the next time it happens to you.

And yet another reminder of why having some sort of cam on your bike isn’t optional anymore.

Thanks to Frank Lehnerz for the heads-up.

………

 

Local

KPCC looks at what ten years and $20 million dollars will buy on South Figueroa, where construction on the long delayed My Figueroa complete streets project is expected to wrap up later this month.

CiclaValley offers his thoughts on the tragic death of 15-year old cyclist Sebastian Montero Easter Sunday.

A Halifax, Nova Scotia musician left Los Angeles by bike on the first leg of a tour across the US in support of his new EP, and to raise funds for a Canadian mental health organization.

A website says the most dangerous time to drive a car in Los Angeles is around 4 pm on Friday. Which likely correlates to the most dangerous time to walk or ride a bike, as well.

Robertson Blvd is the most dangerous street in West Hollywood for car crashes when adjusted for traffic volume. Which likely makes it one of the most dangerous streets for bike riders and pedestrians, as well.

Santa Monica is hosting a free lunch tomorrow to discuss plans for Bike to Work Month.

 

State

San Diego orders a DIY kids pump track closed due to liability issues.

Apparently, Los Angeles isn’t the only city where angry drivers complain about road diets and insist no public outreach was done, as a San Jose columnist points out the significant public outreach before one was installed last year.

Uber has purchased dockless e-bikeshare provider Jump, as it moves to become an urban mobility company, rather than just a taxi substitute; the purchase is not expected to affect San Francisco’s pilot program.

A Marin judge has blocked plans to allow bicycles on a singletrack trail, after ruling that the county failed to conduct a full environmental impact study.

 

National

Bicycling says don’t throw your hi-viz away yet, despite recent studies that say it may not do any good.

Oregon is considering allowing ebikes on some state park and coastal trails.

Coast Guard officials in Seattle remind people not to leave their bicycles on the ferry; not surprisingly, some are bikeshare bikes, but most belong to the people who apparently forget they rode a bike that day, too often leading to a man-overboard search.

Seattle bicyclists take one last ride across the Alaskan Way Viaduct before it’s torn down to improve views of the coast, and replaced by a new underground tunnel.

A seven-lane Detroit boulevard is going to lose two lanes to make room for improved sidewalks and protected bike lanes. Let’s hope motorists in the Motor City have more sense than those in Los Angeles, who rose up in arms over a similar project on Venice Blvd.

Jersey City becomes just the latest American city to adopt a Vision Zero plan. But as we’ve seen in Los Angeles, adopting a plan is the easy part; actually making the hard choices necessary to save lives take political courage that is too often missing.

No irony here. A Pennsylvania motorcyclist notes the differences between how bicycles and motorcycles are treated under the law, without apparently recognizing the primary differences between the two.

 

International

Researchers from the University of Duh conclude that bad weather can get people to change their travel plans, especially those on foot and bikes; plans are underway for heated and cooled bike lanes to address those problems in some cities.

A Winnipeg woman is looking for a bike-riding caregiver for her Parkinson’s afflicted husband as they prepare to take a bicycle tour across the US and Canada.

After apparently running out of children to order off his lawn, a British academic says dockless bikeshare is a menace.

An English man proves the benefits of ebikes, as an 88-year old stroke survivor stuns his doctors with his recovery after borrowing his neighbor’s ped-assist bike.

Tragic case from the UK, where a 27-year old man died after a slow-speed collision with a bike rider; for once, no one appears to be blaming the man on the bike.

A Saudi woman now enjoys riding her bicycle in public, which would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. And looks forward to driving a car, which will soon be legal for women there for the first time.

A new study suggests that the mandatory bike helmet law in Australia’s New South Wales state wasn’t responsible for the drop in bicycling deaths usually attributed to it.

Seoul, Korea opens a new red-colored, one-way bike lane on the city’s most prominent street, complete with solar-powered lane markers, and posts at intersections to prevent right hooks.

 

Competitive Cycling

An investigation has been opened into the death of Belgian cyclist Michael Goolaerts during Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix classic. He reportedly crashed after riding off the road at high speed, but it’s unknown whether he suffered a heart attack before or after the crash.

Lost in Sunday’s sad news was the race run by cycling scion Taylor Phinney, who finished a surprising eighth in what may be the world’s toughest single day bike race.

 

Finally…

When the ticket for speeding on your ebike reads 62 mph. The poetry of cyclocross — no, literally.

And when your ride has a message. And the message is f*ck cars.

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