Tag Archive for safer streets

Congress member echoes calls for safer WeHo Streets, and CO cops succeed with hit-and-run alert LAPD and CHP won’t use

Day 205 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Burbank Congressional Representative Laura Friedman echoed last week’s call for safer streets in West Hollywood.

The Beverly Press quotes the 30th District House member as saying,

“We need to be thinking about this from every angle, from the way we design vehicles, to what safety features are in vehicles, to employing technology like speed cameras across the state in a thoughtful way, to driver’s education,” she (Friedman) said.

Friedman also commended West Hollywood and other cities for implementing safer traffic measures, calling the increase in fatal collisions a “public health crisis.”

Because a public health crisis is exactly how we need to be looking at traffic violence. Just like we should consider gun violence, but don’t.

In both cases.

The paper also quotes Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, founder Damian Kevitt citing a “shocking” increase in traffic violence in the city of just 34,000 people.

Kevitt also cited the problem of drivers fleeing following a crash because the penalties for hit-and-run are more lenient than for DUI.

“That is a huge factor and that is where the law needs to catch up,” he said.

Kevitt added that reducing traffic congestion by adding surface area on streets has not been successful in Los Angeles and that using alternative means of transportation is a more effective way of reducing vehicle congestion.

However, we’re not likely to reduce congestion until people feel safer using other forms of transportation on those congested streets.

Egg, meet chicken.

The paper also reminds us about the petition to install a red light camera at Fountain and Gardner.

Which has gathered less than 250 signatures so far, when it should be at least ten times that number by now.

So if you haven’t signed it yet, do it already.

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The same day an Englewood, Colorado bike rider was seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued a Medina Alert, which is their version of a hit-and-run alert.

Which is exactly how it’s supposed to work.

Maybe someone should tell that to the cops here.

Because the hit-and-run alert programs for both Los Angeles and California were copied from Colorado’s successful program, which itself was based on the very successful program patterned after the Amber alert system that originated in Denver.

The only difference is they use it, and we don’t. Which just might have something to do with why Colorado solved every felony hit-and-run in 2022, while only around 20% ever get solved in California.

Or maybe they just care enough to devote the resources necessary to solve them, and the cops and elected leaders out here don’t.

But at least the LAPD only waited two days to ask for the public’s help this time.

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A new video game allows you to ride a magical bike through a massive open world in search of some legendary bike part; The Verge calls it “the feel-good game of the summer.”

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. New York bike riders are understandably frustrated after a nearly 1,000% increase in bike traffic tickets in the second quarter of this year — except their now criminal summons, which require recipients to appear before a judge in criminal court, rather than traffic court.

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Local 

A Hollywood judge will now determine whether a 62-year old Pasadena man will stand trial for killing his wife, dismembering her and stuffing her remains in a suitcase, then taking his bicycle on a train, riding his bike to North Figueroa and setting the suitcase on fire in a Home Depot parking lot, after his attorney questioned the man’s mental competency. Gee, ya think?

Burbank unveiled its draft Safer Street action plan, including plans for traffic calming measures on nine separate streets; you can weigh in at the August 12th city council meeting.

 

State

Calbike shares strategies used by local advocates in two California cities to add bikeways to state roadways.

Chula Vista became the latest California city to crack down on ebike riders, although they put off enforcement of the new restrictions for 90 days.

Just like West Hollywood last weekend, nearly 100 people in San Rafael gathered outside City Hall Monday evening to honor a “beloved husband, coach and cyclist” who was killed while riding his bike last month, and demand that the city fix the dangerous intersection where he was was run down by a driver.

 

National

Bike Mag examines the impact Black Sabbath and the late Ozzy Osbourne had on mountain biking.

They get it. A Bend, Oregon newspaper says if the state wants more people to ride bikes, it has to invest in bike safety; if not, maybe the city’s bike riders should just stay home.

Seattle Bike Blog says riding your bike to transit is the ultimate hack to get around the city’s freeway construction this summer — and every other day, too.

Two people have already died during this week’s RAGBRAI ride across Iowa, despite receiving prompt medical attention from medical professionals taking part in the multi-day event; meanwhile, the 140-member Air Force Cycling Team is riding along with the RAGBRAI participants to provide assistance to anyone who needs it.

A Milwaukee driver faces up to 31 years behind bars for — allegedly — blowing through a red light and seriously injuring a man riding in a bike lane, while a) FaceTiming with a contracting customer b) smoking a joint, c) driving on a suspended license, and d) driving a car belonging to someone else.

An Atlanta city councilmember got a first-hand look at the dangers bike riders face on the roads, when he was struck by a driver making a U-turn, while he was riding his bike home from a soccer match with his four-year old daughter; his attorney says his bike was properly lit and he was doing everything right.

A new video series tries to normalize bike riding as it follows Tampa, Florida ebike riders on their way to local businesses.

 

International

A Canadian woman just set new Guinness World Records for the fastest speed on a Penny Farthing by a woman at 25.93 mph, and the fastest women’s one kilometer on a Penny Farthing. But bikes like that have only been around for 150 years, so no big deal. 

Friends of a Brazilian man who was killed while riding his bike in London last year plan to reinstall his ghost bike, after it was removed by the Tower Hamlets council just three months later without consulting his family or friends.

An English man discovers there’s nothing like working as a food delivery rider to train for an epic bike ride from the UK to Australia.

A bike-riding man in Singapore faces up to five years behind bars for killing a 70-year old pedestrian by failing to “keep a proper lookout” while riding his bike across an intersection.

 

Competitive Cycling

Italian cyclist Jonathan Milan won his second stage in this year’s Tour de France in a sprint to the finish after a big crash took down a number of riders, including Eritrean Biniam Girmay.

French gendarmes were quick to take down an imposter who tried to ride his bike across the finish line of yesterday’s stage just ahead of the peloton.

Velo offers the “ultimate guide” to all the bikes, components and gear used by the 22 teams competing in the Tour de France Femmes, aka Women’s Tour de France, which kicks off on Saturday.

A 68-year old Phoenix, Arizona woman is the world’s oldest elite-level paracyclist.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you borrow a kids bike to pedal to your first day of NFL training camp. Or when you go over your handlebars, and a TV reporter interrupts his live remote to ensure you’re okay.

And when you’re a convicted felon and known gang member illegally carrying a loaded weapon on your bike, just don’t ride salmon, already.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Car a weapon of mass destruction in East Hollywood, vigil for WeHo bike rider, and Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and…Pee-wee

Day 202 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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This is who we share the road with.

After getting kicked out of an East Hollywood nightclub just before closing time for fighting, a man is accused of intentionally driving his car into a crowd of people standing on the sidewalk, injuring at last 37 people — seven critically.

Twenty-nine-year old Fernando Ramirez was then pulled from his car and beaten by members of the crowd, before getting shot in the ass by someone, who the police are still looking for.

Now it turns out Ramirez has an extensive criminal record, with at least 11 felony and misdemeanor busts dating back to 2014 including arrests for violent assaults.

One of those resulted in a conviction for a hate crime after Ramirez sucker-punched an employee at a Whole Foods Market in Laguna Beach, telling an officer it was because the man was Black, and “he hated all Black people,” although the conviction was later overturned on appeal.

But maybe it’s time we ask why people with a demonstrated history of violence are allowed to continue operating a potential multi-ton weapon of mass destruction.

Because until we take cars away from violent felons just like we do guns, tragedies like this will keep happening.

Even the corgi honored a request from the family of Blake Ackerman that everyone wear Hawaiian shirts to the vigil for the fallen bicyclist to remember his love for the islands. Photo by Damian Kevitt,

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WeHo Times continued their coverage of the ghost bike and vigil for Blake Ackerman, who was killed at Fountain and Gardner in West Hollywood on July 10th.

Ackerman’s fiancé Victoria “Torie” Ball was there representing the victim, since his family chose to mourn in private, in what Streets Are For Everyone founder Damian Kevitt described as “a very emotional time for the family.”

The website reports that West Hollywood Mayor Chelsea Byers and Councilmembers Danny Hang and Lauren Meister attended, along with Culver City Councilmember Bryan “Bubba” Fish.

Unfortunately, no representatives of the City of Los Angeles chose to attend, even though the dividing line between the cities is literally the curb on the north side of the street, with Fountain in West Hollywood and the sidewalk in Los Angeles.

According to Kevitt,

“They (Ackerman’s family) thanked us for the work we’re doing–not only remembering Blake, but making sure this moment leads to real change. It’s about more than what happened. It’s about preventing future tragedies.”

Mayor Byers echoed that sentiment. “We’re here holding a vigil for Blake, who died on Fountain Avenue while riding his bike, and we’re vowing to fight for safer streets in West Hollywood and across the region,” she said. “I’m grateful that a council member from Culver City joined us tonight–it shows this is a regional issue. We’re all fighting for a future where people don’t have to risk their lives just to ride a bike.”

Amen to that.

A poster for another fatal hit-and-run was posted across the street from the Ackerman vigil and ghost bike, for a crash less than two weeks earlier, and just block away.

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Um, okay.

“Remember the Alamo” will soon take on a whole new meaning, after the Texas historic site “officially acquired the original screen-used stunt bike” from the 1985 film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.

The iconic red bicycle, one of several made for the film, will be permanently displayed in the future Alamo Visitor Center and Museum, currently scheduled to open in Fall of 2027.

You can just imagine the lessons learned by future school kids as they admire memorabilia from Alamo legends Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis, and yes, Pee-wee Herman.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No surprise here. A New York bike rider was injured by a turning driver on a street where New York’s mayor cancelled plans for a road diet and protected bike lanes to appease his wealthy campaign donors.

No bias here. A self-identified London “cyclist” says he looks at Lime bikeshare ebikes with the same contempt as London cabbies look at him, because they litter the street corners and clog the bike lanes — and the sidewalks, apparently. Meanwhile, Electrek says if you think ebikes are bad, just wait until you learn about cars.

But sometimes, it’s the people on bikes behaving badly.

Seriously? A Staten Island writer blames a jeep driver for blowing a stop sign and nearly hitting a kid as he rode his bike off the sidewalk, but says the child on the bike bears responsibility for not stopping or wearing a helmet. Even though a) riding on the sidewalk is legal for kids there, and b) a bike helmet wouldn’t haven’t prevented a crash.

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Local 

Once again, the LAPD failed to use their hit-and-run alert system, and waited months to tell us a man in his 60s was severely injured when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver, while riding his bicycle in LA’s Pico-Union neighborhood in the early hours of May 28th; there is a standing $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injuries in the City of Los Angeles.

 

State

A 17-year old San Diego boy suffered a fractured left femur and shattered left ankle when he was right-hooked by a driver while riding in a crosswalk in the Fairmount Village neighborhood Saturday afternoon.

A 73-year old man suffered an open leg fracture when he was run down by a driver while biking in San Diego’s Point Loma Heights Thursday.

The founder of apparel brand Cherry Willow just finished a 715-mile ride from Sacramento to San Diego to raise awareness and funds to fight homelessness and food insecurity.

 

National

The Verge says 24,000 batteries sold with cheap ebikes have been recalled because “the US can’t get its shit together” and regulate them properly.

Thirty-one members of my old college fraternity are riding across the country from San Francisco to Washington DC to raise awareness for people living with disabilities.

That’s more like it. A New Mexico woman was sentenced to ten years behind bars for the high-speed crash that killed a Las Cruces man riding a bicycle while she was driving drunk and stoned.

He gets it. The county attorney for Leavenworth, Kansas says “When you see a cyclist, even if you’re in a rush, don’t let it crank your gears. Respect their space.”

Nelson Vails, 1984 Olympic cycling hero and the first Black man to win an Olympic medal, says he likes RAGBRAI, aka the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, because it’s just a relaxed ride, and not a race.

Two New York woman are facing charges for fleeing on foot after racing their car off a bridge at a high rate of speed, and crashing into a 55-year old man out for his usual morning bike ride, along with a 63-year old woman just sitting on a bench, killing both, then crashing into a police van with enough force to knock it into a jewelry store. The family of the bike riding victim, who was known as an advocate for safer streets, said “It’s devastating to know he was killed doing something he loved.

 

International

A Ukrainian soldier will spend the next 61 months behind bars for stealing a bottle of whiskey from a store in Odessa, along with a bicycle worth the equivalent of $119; he was also fined the equivalent of $845.

Despite suffering a disabling brain injury seven years ago, a 65-year old New Zealand man has set off on a ride around the world, saying “Either you master your disability or it masters you.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgian cyclist Tim Wellens won Sunday’s stage 15, becoming just the 113th rider to take stage wins in all three Grand Tours, while Tadej Pogačar continued his march towards a fourth Tour de France win.

US champ Quinn Simmons says he was in position for the win on stage 15 after a 33-mile breakaway until a race moto interfered with the finish, implying he might have done better that finishing 21st in a mass sprint otherwise.

More proof cyclists are tough, after Julian Alaphilippe popped his shoulder out crashing his bike on stage 15, popped it back in, and still finished just off the podium — even though he thought he won, except a) two riders finished far ahead of him and the rest of the peloton, and b) Primož Roglič knocked him off the podium in a photo finish.

That came just a day after Alaphilippe made headlines for snatching a cardboard sign out of a spectator’s hands and stuffing it inside his jersey as protection from the cold.

Two-time world champ and Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel was just one of several riders to abandon the Tour, complaining that his body wasn’t responding to the demands of the race.

A Tour de France spectator was knocked down by the driver of the INEOS-Grenadiers team car during Saturday’s 14th stage; INEOS directeur sportif Oliver Cookson, who was driving the car, was fined 5,000 Swiss francs — the equivalent of $6,200 — and given a yellow card for the crash, even though he was driving in the middle of the road.

 

Finally…

That feeling when grandma doesn’t want you riding that damn BMX anymore. Or when you’re still wanted in Belgium for using a forged Tour de France press pass, after retiring as road manager for the Clash.

And don’t try this at home.

No, literally.

3:18pm La Costa Avenue / Carlsbad
byu/MusicMan559 insandiego

Thanks to Phillip and Ellectrek for the heads-up. 

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Bass slash-and-burn budget threatens street safety & CicLAvia, and how to apply for CA ebike vouchers Tuesday

Day 115 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Evidently, I’ve not the only one concerned about the effect of the draconian budget cuts and layoffs proposed by Mayor Karen Bass.

Streets For All sent out the following email yesterday making many of the same points.

This week, Mayor Bass released her proposed budget for 2025-2026. This budget plans to slash most departments’ funding, as well as eliminate 1,650 city positions and 1,074 vacancies. It also proposes deferring capital projects, like planned road and infrastructure improvements.

This budget is a disaster for road safety and even basic services.You can read our detailed analysis here. This budget will result significantly more broken streets and sidewalks. New pedestrian and bike projects, including many Olympics projects, will be delayed. All streetlight repairs will be paused until 2027. Billions in grant funded street safety and mobility projects may be lost. And there may be no staffing to support open streets events like CicLAvia.

There are only TWO opportunities to comment on the Mayor’s proposed budget, and they are both in person:

APRIL 25, 2025 at 1pm
Van Nuys City Hall
14410 Sylvian Street
Van Nuys, CA 91401

APRIL 28, 2025 at 4pm
City Hall Council Chamber, Room 340
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Budget Chair Katy Yaroslavsky will be hosting a session in person:
APRIL 26, 2025 at 11am
Westwood
RSVP for address

Tell the Mayor that cutting funding for our streets will lead to more crashes, costing the City even more in liability payouts – part of why the city is in such financial distress to begin with. This budget would also lead to a near pause of any new projects, and delay existing ones – freezing our infrastructure during a time period when we are about to host the World Cup and Olympics.

While showing up in person is most effective, if you cannot attend you may comment on the council file.

Thank you for fighting for a safe, sustainable, and equitable future for Los Angeles and beyond!

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Streetsblog’s Damien Newton takes an in-depth look at the second round of the California ebike voucher program, including how to apply.

The Air Resources Board’s longdelayed and controversial e-bike voucher program will be opening its application portal for a second time at 6:00 p.m. on April 29th. This time instead of a first-come, first-serve approach that left out tens of thousands of hopeful applicants, the system will randomly choose 1,000 people who join their virtual waiting room between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.

To join the waiting room, go to ebikeincentives.org and select the ‘APPLY’ button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

He also notes that you are encouraged to arrive early to the portal to file your application.

But don’t bother if you don’t meet the financial qualifications, and aren’t willing to jump through their hoops to document your income — and watch a couple of pretty meaningless videos.

The program is only offering 1,000 vouchers this time, which represents less than 1% of the people who tried to apply for the first round of vouchers.

The 1,000 lucky people will be selected through a form of lottery. You’re encourage to stick around through the full process, until you receive a notification that you either were or weren’t selected to apply.

Surprisingly, it looks like I may actually qualify this time.

But whether I’ll actually bother, given the massive shitshow mess they made of the first round, remains to be determined.

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Evidently, life is cheap in the UK.

Mansfield Town striker Lucas Akins was sentenced to 14 months behind bars for carelessly killing a 33-year old man riding a bicycle, in a crash caught on the victim’s bike cam.

Yet Akins seemed to demonstrate just how little it bothered him by playing in a League One soccer match the same day he entered his not guilty plea in court.

The team issued a statement expressing their condolences to the family, and said they’re “considering its position with regards to” Akins.

Especially since he won’t be on the pitch for the better part of the next few seasons.

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PinkBike takes a look at the creation of Bradley Bike Park in San Marcos, calling it “a rideable masterpiece built against all odds on near-flat ground,” and “artistry etched in dirt.”

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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.   

A British couple were threatened and spat on by a pair of men who were riding their bikes next to the couple’s car, after they brought the car to a stop, for no apparent reason. Although I would guess thee may be another side to the story, and that maybe the driver did something to tick ’em off. But regardless of what it may have been, nothing justifies violence.

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Local 

Metro still hasn’t done anything with the long-delayed second phase of the Metro Mobility Wallet, which is supposed to provide participants with $1,800 to spend on any form of transportation, from bus passes and rideshare to bikeshare, or even buying a bicycle. But the program is worthless if the agency doesn’t follow through by actually funding their debit cards.

Speaking of Metro, CEO Stephanie Wiggins will continue to lead the agency for another four — or maybe five — years, after the Metro board voted unanimously to extend her contract, at whopping half a million dollars a year, a 20% increase over her previous contract. Which means they’ll give everyone else who works for Metro a similar pay bump, right?

Redondo Beach says ebike riders are behaving better now.

SoCal’s killer highway claimed another victim, as Torrance residents called for improved safety after a 38-year old man was hit and killed by multiple drivers as he crossed the street Saturday night — including the heartless coward who hit him first, and fled the scene without stopping. Although I wonder whether Killer PCH or deadly Vista del Mar, aka Deadly del Mar, actually kills more people on a per-mile basis. Thanks to How The West Was Saved for the heads-up. 

 

State

Rancho Mirage does Bike Month, or Bike Safety Month, the right way by introducing plan for three bike safety projects, including widened bike lanes, improved signage, and designated bike paths, to be completed by the end of summer.

Los Gatos opened a long-anticipated bike and pedestrian bridge linking Highway 9 to the Los Gatos Creek Trailhead.

 

National

The Seattle Times visits the forested Washington State segment of the 5,000-mile mountain bike trail along West Coast.

A 32-year old man from the US faces charges for crossing into the country from Mexico on a bicycle stuffed with fentanyl and meth.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell kicked off the NFL Draft in Green Bay with a wobbly bike ride onto the stage, in a nod to the Packers tradition of riding borrowed bicycles to the first day of camp. But it wasn’t enough to silence the boos from fans.

Surprisingly, the New York Times picks the Dahon Mariner D8 as the best foldie over Tern’s Link D8, with the famed Brompton taking third.

New York Streetsblog says beyond treating bicyclists like an afterthought, the New York Parks Department has been downright unfriendly to people on bicycles, even though it controls some of the city’s most important carfree infrastructure.

Finishing our New York trifecta, the city announced a whopping 127 Open Streets events to take place this spring and summer, including a belated Earth Day celebration featuring 54 carfree streets and plazas throughout the five boroughs.

Passaic New Jersey opened a small bikeshare system that will be free to local residents.

People in Louisiana just seem to have more fun than the rest of us, even on a five-day fundraising ride through Cajun country.

 

International

Even in the Cayman Islands, bicyclists are demanding safer streets, in the wake of a hit-and-run that killed a bike rider on Easter Monday.

Here’s a few more for your bike bucket list, as Momentum recommends Europe’s best rail trails for a unique bicycling vacation. I’ll take the one that follows the Danube, thank you. Or maybe the one that runs through Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. 

Evidently, congestion pricing and better bikeways work, since London’s Square Mile, aka the sparely populated financial district that employs a half-million people each day — now averages nearly twice as many bicycles as cars, following a 57% jump in bicycling rates in just two years.

London bicyclists are now expected to adhere to a code of conduct in the city’s parks, as a new survey shows 86% Londoners think the parks’ 20 mph speed limit should apply to bicycles, too.

A new survey shows that most British drivers still don’t understand how to share the road with bicyclists, three years after the rules of the road were changed to improve bike safety. The same survey in the US would probably show similar results, even though most of our rules haven’t changed in decades. 

In an unusual move, Irish police, aka Gardaí, reached out to bike clubs to see if any were riding in the area where a 56-year old farmer went missing last month, in hopes that maybe someone saw him. Something they should do more often, since we have a lot more eyes on the streets than they do.

Now you, too, can fix your own light when your ebike maker goes belly-up, like the Netherlands’ VanMoof.

Mind your biking behavior in Japan next April, when police will start fining bicyclists for “minor” violations like using a cellphone while riding, and running red lights.

 

Finally…

Why buy a custom-made bicycle when you can just make your own damn bike? Your next tire pump could look like a tiny little robot.

And why just go for a bike ride, when you could earn crypto with every ride.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Hit-and-run Sierra Madre bicyclist arrested after two-month manhunt, and over 2,100 turn out in Griffith Park for safer streets

Just 268 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the needlessly mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re now up to 1,043 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

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The good news is, my wife is back home from the hospital, with a couple partially displaced fractures in her shoulder. The next few weeks will determine whether we’re looking at a grueling three month recovery, or up to a year if she needs surgery to reset the bones. 

Meanwhile, I’m now her full-time caregiver, as well as the corgi’s. Which is going to mean some major changes to when and how I work. 

Hopefully I’ll be able to keep things up and you won’t notice a difference. But no promises, because this is going to be a real challenge for the coming months. 

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It’s now 109 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 34 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

West Hollywood residents planned a protest on Sunday to complain about the loss of parking to make space for protected bike lanes and other infrastructure projects on Fountain and Willoughby Aves, as well as Santa Monica Blvd, which “will eventually deprive the surrounding neighborhoods of hundreds of parking spaces.” Proving once again that the convenience of drivers outweighs human lives for far too many people. And seriously, don’t read the comments after you’ve eaten. Or at all, for that matter.

A Las Cruces, New Mexico driver was convicted of shooting a bike rider in the face during a road-rage incident, along with a five-year sentence enhancement for using a firearm; the dispute began when he almost crashed into the victim.

Houston, Texas is deemphasizing its commitment to Vision Zero under the city’s new mayor.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a van driver got a lousy 21-months behind bars for intentionally swerving into a teenager riding an ebike, who he thought had stolen his son’s motorbike.

Even in North Macedonia, streets, sidewalks and bike paths are unusable after being overrun with parked cars.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A 79-year old English woman is grieving the love of her life, after a hit-and-run bike rider rode off after rolling over her pet chihuahua.

A British judge ruled that a 54-year old senior control engineer and a 66-year-old teacher were equally at fault for colliding while riding on a bike path, concluding they were “traveling at twice the safe speed” and oblivious to each other’s presence when the “inevitable” crash occurred.

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Local 

London’s Independent says forget driving, and explore Los Angeles by bicycle.

Streets For All founder Michael Schneider says the lesson to be learned from the overwhelming passage of Measure HLA is that safe streets are good politics.

The LA Times asks if you have what it takes to compete in the grueling, three-stage LA Tourist Race for gravel and mountain bikes.

McLaren IndyCar driver David Malukas will make a delayed debut with the team in Long Beach in two weeks, after a mountain-biking “brain fart” sent him over his handlebars while riding on an easy trail, resulting in a dislocated his wrist and multiple torn ligaments.

 

State

Calbike says California must seize the opportunity to build better bikeways by supporting AB 2290, Assemblymember Laura Friedman’s Quicker and Better Bikeways Bill.

The San Luis Obispo Police Department ticketed a whopping 13 drivers and bicyclists during their latest bicycle and pedestrian safety operation, though they didn’t give a breakdown on which group got the most tickets, or why.

Sad news from Lost Hills, where a bike rider was killed by a pickup driver in the tiny unincorporated town.

The owner of a San Francisco restaurant threatens an extreme crash diet, saying he’s going on a 30-day hunger strike to protest the Valencia Street centerline bike lanes, claiming the bike lanes are ruining his business.

The Marin County Bicycle Coalition issued a call to action, urging Bay Area bicyclists to fight to keep the bike and pedestrian path on the Richmond-San Raphael bridge, which drivers somehow claim is causing congestion instead of just too many cars and drivers clogging the five lane, double-decker bridge.

 

National

A writer for an automotive website lists the downsides of owning an ebike, ranging from price to limited range and the need for charging. And says it’s still worth it to own and ride one.

The Sierra Club offers advice on how to hit the road from Idaho to Alabama to Maine without a single car ride or plane trip, using nothing but Amtrak and a bicycle.

Velo introduces some of the four-legged, furry friends of gravel racing.

Denver is continuing to make improvements to the city’s streets, opening a 1.5-mile protected bike lane on one of the city’s busiest business corridors.

Watch as a Colorado woman goes bicycling with her miniature cow. Because why wouldn’t she?

A 78-year old Iowa city councilmember was injured when a woman less than half his age crashed into his bicycle, despite flashing lights mounted front and rear on his bike.

The city council in Providence, Rhode Island passed a resolution opposing the mayor’s plan to rip out a bike lane to make more room for cars, as hundreds of residents turned out to oppose the plan.

 

International

No, airbag bib shorts for bicyclists aren’t an April Fools joke.

Your next bike could be made of recycled plastic. And look like it, too.

A 45-year old Vancouver man faces a charge of first-degree murder for the hit-and-run crash that killed a man riding a bicycle — a charge that requires intent, though no explanation was given.

She gets it. A Toronto mother of two writes that dead and injured bicyclists are never included in traffic discussions, while the voices that get lost in the debate are of those who don’t or can’t drive.

Thirty owners of Pedersen bicycles turned out to mark the 131st anniversary the distinctive diamond-shaped bikes, in the “genius” inventor’s English hometown.

A British man will spend the next 32 years behind bars for attempted murder after stalking another man through two pubs and lying in wait in an alley before shooting him through the neck. But at least he made his getaway on an ebike.

The UK is investing the equivalent of $3.6 million to build a bikeway separated from foot traffic on London’s Hammersmith Bridge, which has been closed to motor vehicles since cracks were discovered in 2019.

British drivers are encouraged to put a sticker reading “Think Bike” on their side mirrors to remind them to watch out for people on bicycles. Better yet,  make one that reads “Watch for bikes and pedestrians,” and require it by law.

Amsterdam is addressing the risk faster ebikes pose to people on bikeways by bumping ebikes capable of traveling faster than 12 mph into the driving lanes, which have a maximum speed limit of 18 mph.

Huh? Politico says a political backlash is leaving the future of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo uncertain, calling her an unpopular but visionary leader, after ten years of transforming the way Parisians get around. Even though city residents overwhelmingly backed her proposal to increase parking rates for SUVs

A bike-riding photographer bears witness to the sheer devastation caused by the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

A Singapore website investigates the lux lifestyle of Bromptons, Pinarellos and bespoke bikes.

A cement truck driver will spend the next six years behind bars for killing a Singapore bike rider while driving under the influence; he tried to blame the victim for riding too close to his truck.

There’s no lower form of walking human scum than the scammers trying to take advantage of an Australian hit-and-run victim’s family, after he was killed by a truck driver while riding his bike last month.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time defending Tour de France champ Jonas Vingegaard’s racing season is now in jeopardy, after a hard crash with several other riders during the Tour of Basque Country left him with a collapsed lung and pulmonary contusion, as well as a broken collarbone and several broken ribs; the crash also took out cycling stars Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel, the latter also suffering a broken collarbone, along with fractured shoulder plates. The race was cancelled following the crash involving a dozen riders.

Australian cycling star Jay Vine managed to avoid surgery for spinal injuries he suffered in the crash, but he will be in a neck brace for the next six weeks.

The president of the French professional cyclists union calls on UCI to take responsibility for making the sport safer, saying he’s angry over the recent spate of high-speed crashes, while Cyclist calls media coverage of the crash “inexcusable.”

World champion Mathieu van der Poel won his second straight Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, finishing three minutes ahead of his nearest rival after a 37-mile solo breakaway, just one week after winning the Tour of Flanders.

Women’s world champ Lotte Kopecky won Saturday’s Paris-Roubaix Femmes, topping former world champ Elisa Balsamo at the finish.

Cycling Weekly profiles a 51-year old London woman who is slowly remaking herself into an ultra-distance cyclist, as she trains for a “short” 1,145-mile, island-hopping UK race. Which just happens to begin in my father’s ancestral home.

An op-ed for Bike Rumor says it’s time for more of the bike industry to move past the toxic culture of bike racing.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you want to ride your bike, but with a windshield. Or when your bike bell has a dinosaur on it — maybe you can just pretend it’s a kaiju.

And even five-time Tour de France winners get their bikes stolen.

But sometimes, they get them back.

……..

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Measure HLA leads in early voting, NY Vision Zero goes wrong, and possible driver shenanigans on Reseda Blvd

Just 300 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,007 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

………

It’s very early, and returns are still coming in. But so far, things are looking good for safer streets in the City of Angels.

https://twitter.com/schneider/status/1765265605329064090

Then again, why bother counting the ballots, when you can just follow KNBC-4’s lead and declare the winner when the first votes come in?

………

New York’s Vision Zero is clearly going the wrong way.

According to figures released by the city, bicycling deaths in New York reached a record high last year, with 30 people killed riding bikes in 2023. Another 395 bike riders suffered severe injuries.

Over three-quarters of those killed were riding ebikes, while 80% of people suffering severe injuries were on traditional pedal bikes.

Which seems significant, but probably isn’t.

Then again, at least New York released their Vision Zero figures, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name.

………

LADOT and CicLAvia will officially unveil the new Reseda Blvd Complete Streets corridor on Sunday, March 17th — aka St. Patrick’s Day — from 1 pm to 5 pm.

However, unlike most CicLAvia events, this will not be an open streets event, so you may still have to deal with some driver shenanigans.

………

It’s now 77 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. A British man was fined the equivalent of $635 just for riding his bicycle through a town center in violation of a bicycling ban, which is more than many killer drivers a fined; an 82-year old man told city leaders to “stick it up your arse” after being fined the equivalent of $127 for the same offense in 2022.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Scofflaw Japanese bicyclists will now be able to pay traffic fines up to the equivalent of $80, rather than face criminal prosecution for most traffic violations, although “malicious violations” including drunk biking and obstructing traffic will still be subject to criminal punishment.

………

Local 

Authorities have identified a 44-year old homeless woman who was found dead on a Long Beach bike path near El Dorado Park Friday morning, saying her death is being investigated as a possible homicide.

 

State

San Diego Magazine recommends the best backcountry mountain bike route to the “surging watefalls (sic) and bubbling creeks” of Mildred Falls.

If you’re missing a bicycle, look north to Santa Cruz County, where sheriff’s deputies recovered dozens of apparently stolen bicycles while serving a warrant in Watsonville.

Petaluma residents broke out the torches and pitchforks over a proposal for a quick-build bike lane to replace a worn and aging one, over concerns about losing — you guessed it — parking spaces, albeit on just one side of the street. Because as we all know, a free place to store your car is far more important than human lives.

 

National

A US engineer living in the Netherlands argues that the root problem with American DOTs lies with the education and licensing of engineers, who are taught to build deadly infrastructure.

A writer for CNET offers his favorite bicycling gadgets, accessories, apparel and services for the coming year, while NBC News recommends the top rated bike helmets of 2024.

A Portland man was allegedly run down by a rampaging driver while standing with his bicycle, after the driver became enraged because he couldn’t score any fentanyl from a homeless encampment.

The widow of a Seattle bike rider is urging prosecutors to reconsider a decision to let the 53-year old driver who killed him with a slap on the wrist, despite striking him in a left cross crash while driving with a suspended license; police also failed to test the driver for drug or alcohol use.

A Denver private school chef won’t be cooking for the kids anytime soon, after fracturing his hand, ribs and sternum when he was struck by a driver while biking to work; a crowdfunding campaign to help pay his medical expenses has nearly met the modest $2,500 goal.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an adaptive tricycle custom-made for a disabled little boy in Mad City, Wisconsin.

If you build it, they will come. A new protected bike lane in Philadelphia has resulted in a 181% increase in ridership rates, while also leading to an 81% jump in drivers parking on the sidewalk.

Five years after the New Orleans mass casualty crash that killed two people and injured seven others riding their bikes near a Mardi Gras parade, a survivor of the crash is calling on the city to do more to protect bike riders, following a recent report that it has the highest rate of fatal bicyclist crashes per capita among major U.S. metro areas.

A bill that would have given Florida cities more power to restrict ebikes and e-scooters has failed in the state legislature, though the sponsor says it will be reintroduced next year.

 

International

Women make up just 23% of the bicyclists in the English city of Milton Keynes, although a greater concern might be that they counted just 163 people riding bicycles on the city’s shared mobility lanes over a ten-day period in January.

You have less than two months to dig out your finest Scottish woolens and vintage bicycle for London’s annual Tweed Ride next month.

You’re welcome. People walking and biking account for over 680,00 fewer cars and trucks on the streets of Ireland’s five largest cities.

As if dangerous drivers weren’t enough to worry about, a 60-year old Singapore man died of organ failure after he was repeatedly stung by a swarm of angry hornets as he rode his bike.

Former two-time world time trial champ Rohan Dennis will face a judge next week over charges he drove in a “culpably negligent manner” causing the death of his wife, Australian Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins, who reportedly fell from the hood of his SUV while attempting to open the passenger door. Maybe after the hearing we’ll finally learn why she was on the hood to begin with.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team is defending their use of their new Giro Aerohead II helmets that make the riders look like weir yellow mushrooms, despite a belief that UCI will ban their use in the near future; GCN says they should just hurry up and do it, already.

Good question. Pez Cycling News examines what can be done to promote better mental health among pro cyclists.

More than 400 cyclists competed in Costa Mesa’s Taylor Elizabeth Clifford Memorial Grand Prix, named in honor of a Huntington Beach teenager who died from an overdose in 2005.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have to wait for the end of a belated Mardi Gras parade to start building a bikeway. Who says you need a front wheel to bike to Kashmir, anyway?

And evidently, they’re called Waymo because they’re way mo’ dangerous than non-autonomous vehicles.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Hope for Expo bike path despite entitled NIMBYs, LA needs safer streets not more signs, and South Bay tries to rein in ebikes

Welcome to the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

We’re off to a rip-roaring start as we begin Day 4, ahead of last year’s record pace by nearly $450 after just three days. 

So before you settle down to Cyber Monday shopping, take a moment to join the 23 people who have already opened their hearts and wallets to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

And please join me in thanking everyone who’s given so far for their kindness and generosity in supporting this site. 

Thanks to James L, David R, Eric L, Arthur B, Stephen T, Scott R, John C, Joni Y, André V, Glenn C, Jordan G, Michael G, David M, Joseph R, Michael S, Mark J, Stephen M, Patrick M, Steven F, Steven S, Brian N, Robs M, and Smiling Corgis. 

Let’s hope tomorrow’s list is just as long. So donate today!

………

Writing for Streetsblog, longtime lawyer, bike advocate and Cheviot Hills resident Jonathan Weiss tells a prototypical LA horror story about entitled NIMBYs blocking the Expo Line bike path.

Weiss writes how wealthy Cheviot Hills residents successfully fought the installation of the Expo Bike Path after unsuccessfully fighting the Expo Line train, resulting in the notorious Northvale Gap that has forced bike riders and walkers to use difficult bypass routes.

And how they’ve used means both legal and otherwise to deter outsiders from besmirching their neighborhood.

But there may finally be light at the end of the tunnel, after ten long years.

As for finally closing the Northvale Gap, I am cautiously optimistic now that Katy Yaroslavsky is the Los Angeles City Councilwoman for Cheviot Hills. She is pro-active-transportation and is also on the Metro board. Already, her office has obtained additional funds from Metro to close the Northvale Gap. Her staff regularly meets with relevant departments (LADOT, Engineering, City Attorney) to solve problems. The latest (2022) fact sheet available through LADOT’s “Exposition Bike Path (Northvale Segment)” website says “Construction is anticipated to begin Spring 2024.” The Council Office expects construction to start some time in 2024.

………

In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Streets For All founder Michael Schneider says the city needs safe streets, not more signs warning drivers to “watch your speed.”

The official responses to proven traffic hazards are woefully inadequate — mere gestures, if even that.

In 2021, after Monique Muñoz was killed on Olympic Boulevard at Overland Avenue by a driver going more than 100 miles per hour, the city placed a “Watch your speed” sign, politely asking drivers to slow down. Unfortunately, in the over two years that have passed, the city has yet to meaningfully redesign Olympic Boulevard to prevent a crash like this from happening again.

People don’t drive based on signage. They drive based on the design of the street. In the case of Olympic Boulevard in West Los Angeles, the design screams “wide open highway,” a lot like the Pacific Coast Highway. Hazardous as this is to all people (including drivers), it is most dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists.

Take a few minutes from your busy Cyber Monday to read the whole thing, because, as Schneider concludes, “The problem is carnage in the streets, and we know the solutions.”

Indeed we do.

We just need leaders with the courage to implement them, which seems to be sadly lacking in this town.

………

Speaking of the LA Times, the paper observes the proliferation of ebikes in California’s coastal cities, as South Bay cities struggle to rein riders in.

And as we’ve seen, several have over-reacted with draconian, and possibly illegal, restrictions. Hello, Manhattan Beach.

Meanwhile, Clean Technica gets it, pleading with officials not to turn ebikes into a regulatory nightmare.

………

CicLAvia looks forward to their final event of the year, as the nation’s most successful ongoing open streets festival finds its way to South LA this weekend.

The route runs from historic Central Ave to iconic Leimert Park, with culturally rich MLK Jr. Blvd in between.

Unfortunately, I’ll have to miss this one, much to my regret, due to other obligations.

………

The Cyber Monday sales are coming in fast and furious, with as Cycling Weekly rounds up bicycling deals, including up 40% off at REI and up to 50% off at Competitive Cyclist, as well as deals on bikewear and novelty jerseys.

Meanwhile, Wired says you can now get a Specialized ebike for as little as two grand.

Which would normally give us another opportunity to chide California for the interminable delay in launching the state’s ebike rebate program, but screw it.

………

Of course Bill Nye the Science Guy is one of us.

………

A German TV network reports on the influx of migrants flowing into Finland across the border with Russia, many on bicycles supplied by the Russians.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

GCN tackles the ultimate question of who is the fastest, staging a drag race pitting a roadie against a mountain biker, BMX rider and a track cyclist.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. Georgetown historian Thomas Zimmer writes on Mastodon that certain members of the far right are promoting “aggressive anti-bikeism” as part of their political agenda, even though bicycling is far less socialist than the massive public subsidies paid for cars. Unfortunately, I can’t embed his post, but you can read this thread and other Mastodon posts without having an account with the social media company; thanks again to Megan Lynch for the link. 

Britain’s Daily Mail offers a panicked assessment of the “staggering 10,000 cyclists” delivering fast food across Scotland’s cities and towns, saying they pose a threat to pedestrians and even cars by flouting ­traffic regulations and riding on sidewalks. Never mind that an additional 10,000 people driving cars to make fast food deliveries would pose an greater risk to everyone.

London’s former police chief calls for forcing bike riders to wear numbered license plates to “stop so many cyclists being a danger on London’s streets.” Meanwhile, a writer for conservative The Spectator wisely asks what good would requiring bicyclists to wear numbered plates actually do?

………

Local 

Writing for CityLab, Alex Contreras argues that LA should have used the I-10 closure as an opportunity to rethink the freeway and apply the same sense of urgency to get people out of their cars.

West Hollywood will team with the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition to host a WeHo Mobility Popup on Santa Monica Blvd tonight, giving away free bike lights on a first-come, first-served basis for people with bicycles, along with other complimentary giveaways for everyone.

 

State

No surprise here, as California ranks among the country’s deadliest states for bicyclists, ranking 4th nationwide in the percentage of bicyclists killed compared to total traffic deaths.

An assistant US Attorney in San Diego says a form of blood cancer knocked him off his bike, but not for long.

In a rare occurrence, someone was killed in a bicycling crash, and it wasn’t the person on two wheels. A driver in San Gregorio was killed when he struck a bicyclist riding on the shoulder, then went off the road and struck a tree; compounding the tragedy, the bike rider was hospitalized with what was described as severe injuries.

San Francisco advocates say the city is prime real estate for undoing one of the country’s most glaring urban infrastructure mistakes and building cities around people instead of cars.

Sad news from Lodi, where a 56-year old homeless man was killed riding his bike after allegedly swerving head-on in front of a 19-year old driver; investigators blamed the victim for possibly being stoned

 

National

A pair of kindhearted Pocatello, Idaho business owners gave a new bicycle to a man described as a local fixture for riding his bike around the city, after his bike was stolen.

New York’s high court extended prohibitions against illegal search and seizure to bicyclists, ruling that people on bicycles should have the same protections as people in cars, and require that police have probable cause to conduct a search.

Bloomberg’s CityLab talks with the mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey about the steps the city has taken to improve street safety, which has resulted in no traffic deaths for the past six years. And proves that Vision Zero is achievable — if our leaders actually give a damn, and have the political will to make the tough choices.

 

International

Rouleur says ‘cross will make you a more powerful bicyclist.

Momentum offers the top ten reasons to bike to work in the winter. Reason #1 should be that you live in Los Angeles. Or anywhere else in sunny Southern California. 

The mayor of Manchester, England defends plans for a new segregated bike path alongside a major highway, as vandals steal orange construction cones in what the mayor describes as “systemic theft,” arguing that we can’t live in a world where cars “have got all the road.”

The owner of an independent Dublin, Ireland bike shop describes how his business was trashed and looted by right-wing rioters angry over immigration and a stabbing.

The Guardian examines the culture of bicycling on the cobbles and countryside of Flanders.

National Geographic describes how to plan a design-focused bicycling tour of Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city.

The Philippines’ Iloilo City hosted roughly 3,000 bike riders for a three-day celebration of all things bicycle.

A British TV star is once again criticizing a 108-mile New Zealand bike path that runs across property and a restaurant he owns, citing a number of safety concerns for bike riders on the trail, although he has long fought its mere existence on his property.

Hats off to 39-year old Kiwi paracyclist Hannah Pascoe, who became the first blind bicyclist to ride the full 1,000-mile length of New Zealand.

 

Competitive Cycling

Jeffrey Rusk forwards news that four California paracyclists were among the 15 Americans competing for Team USA at the 2023 Parpan American Games in Santiago, Chile last week — including his girlfriend Jenna Rollman, who brought home bronze in Road Mixed H Womens Class Time Trial, among several other American medalists.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could have a 19-gear string drive groupset. Why ride a mere bicycle, when you can pedal a Star Wars speeder, instead?

And when you disagree with the law, just change it.

Or chop it down, anyway.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Westside bikeways virtual meeting & Bob George ghost bike installation tonight, and PA Senator Fetterman gets it

It’s another light news day for some reason.

And this time, I actually managed to manage my diabetes well enough to stay awake to work. 

So let’s get right to it. 

And apropos of nothing, here’s an AI image of a corgi riding a tricycle.

………

A couple quick reminders of events taking place today.

LADOT is hosting a virtual workshop to discuss building bikeways connecting neighborhoods on the Westside, which they could find in the city’s decade-old mobility plan, if they bothered to dust it off.

However, judging by their tweet/post, the actual time is on a need to know basis. But since you may need to know, it starts at 5:30 pm.

The other event takes on a sadder tone, as street safety nonprofit SAFE — aka Streets Are For Everyone — will place a ghost bike for fallen Hollywood producer Bob George, who was killed in a dooring in East Hollywood last month.

……..

He gets it.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. After a dump truck driver struck and killed a Louisiana bike rider, state troopers and the local media were quick to remove any agency from the killer driver, while blaming the victim for “colliding” with the truck.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

That feeling when the cops chase a bike-riding known felon through the streets of Red Bluff CA, where the local press apparently doesn’t know the difference between road and rode. Never mind that the police need probable cause to stop someone, let alone chase them, and “known felon” isn’t enough. 

A Texas man faces charges for repeatedly stabbing another man in a dispute over a bicycle, after he had taken the victim’s bike earlier in the day and returned without it.

………

Local 

Discover Los Angeles looks forward to next month’s CicLAvia – South LA on December 3rd, the final CicLAvia of the year. Just my luck they had to schedule it on my sister’s birthday, when I will be otherwise engaged. 

 

State

KPBS talks with former Caltrans executive Jeanie Ward-Waller, who was fired for blowing the whistle on a possibly illegal freeway project in Sacramento after watching the agency repeatedly skirt the rules.

Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry takes Caltrans to task after Director Tony Tavares tweeted that safety is the agency’s top priority, arguing that if it is, it certainly doesn’t show. Maybe he can explain how wasting billions to widen freeways makes anyone any safer.

Calbike announced plans for its next biennial California Bicycle Summit, to be held in San Diego on April 18th and 19th.

A long-awaited bikeway connecting Santa Barbara County’s iconic Santa Claus Lane with nearby Carpenteria has finally opened.

A San Luis Obispo bike rider was lucky to escape injury after being struck by a 15-year old boy driving a stolen car; the driver and his passenger fled on foot, but cops were able to track down the boy behind the wheel.

Sad news from Modesto, where a bike rider was killed by a hit-and-run driver in a Kia Soul as he was just trying to ride across the street.

A report on the contentious bike lane pilot program on the Bay Area’s Richmond-San Rafael Bridge confirms that it’s not the cause of traffic congestion on the bridge, along with the resulting smog, while opponents play the race card in a full-page ad trying to get it removed.

 

National

CleanTechnica explains how ebikes can make using a bike for transportation practical, or even pleasurable. To which Californians still waiting for the state’s long-delayed ebike rebate program responded, “We wouldn’t know.”

A new organization co-founded by a Portland phys-ed teacher is dedicated to helping kids and parents form bike buses throughout the US.

That’s more like it. An Iowa woman was sentenced to 20 years behind bars for the drunken crash that killed two men and injured another when she somehow mistook a bike path for a freeway onramp; she’ll have to spend at least 17 years behind bars before she’s eligible for parole. Which should give her plenty of time to sober up. 

That’s more like it. Several members of the Dallas, Texas city council rode their bikes to work as the city works on its first new bike plan in a decade; one council member said he only felt safe on about half of his ride. Which is probably more than many of the city’s bike riders could say. 

The Kaitlin Armstrong murder trial continued in Austin, Texas, with testimony from two of her friends who heard her threaten to kill gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson, in a jealous rage over a perceived love triangle with pro cyclist Colin Strickland; a former prosecutor warns the case is built on circumstantial evidence.

Streetsblog introduces real New Yorkers who rely on ebikes, in an effort to get politicians to stop demonizing them; meanwhile, Curbed says licensing New York ebikes won’t make the sidewalks any safer.

Bicycles could be restricted, if not banned, under new rules proposed for the iconic Blue Ridge Parkway stretching through Virginia and North Carolina.

A student advocacy group at North Carolina’s Duke University took matters into their own hands, and striped their own DIY bike lanes using duct tape and temporary paint.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is really cheap in Georgia, where a 28-year old man walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that left a 60-year old man riding a bicycle with life-threatening injuries; he jumped a raised median with his car, striking the victim from behind and kept going despite literally running the man over. If you wonder why people keep dying on our streets, this is Exhibit A. 

 

International

Momentum suggests a dozen ways a bicycle could supercharge your life in the city.

Police in London say halting a rash of bike muggings is “among” their priorities, as a number of bike riders report being attacked for their bicycles. Not that they want to get carried away and stick their necks out or anything.

The sister of a fallen Welsh bike rider and two of his friends have refurbished the historic village pub where he used to hang out, and are re-opening it in his honor. Although someone should tell the Welsh news site about this nifty new invention called paragraphs, which would make stories like this much easier to read.

A new patent show Shimano may be trying to cut the weight on e-bike motor systems for gravel bikes and roadies.

A new ebike radar system developed by a 75-year old Japanese company uses an AI algorithm to worn of vehicles approaching from the rear that could pose a risk, as well as a multi-stage brake light for enhanced visibility.

 

Competitive Cycling

Three climate activists who halted this year’s Men’s Elite Road Race at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Scotland by gluing their hands to the narrow roadway got off with a firm admonishment from the local sheriff, while the fourth was fined the equivalent of $307.19.

 

Finally…

Heavy bikes need a heavy duty bike stand and lift system. That feeling when low-cost Costco techwear is almost, sort of, but not quite as good as the name brand mountain bike stuff.

And your new ebike could have a motor developed for a Mars lander, for the low, low price of just 25 grand.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

LA study suggests replacing traffic cops with safer streets, and closing arguments today in Tour de Palm Springs murder trial

It took awhile, but Los Angeles is finally back with a study suggesting the city should take cops out of traffic stops.

First proposed nearly three years ago in the wake of the George Floyd protests, the results of the study would turn traffic enforcement over to unarmed civilians, as well as remaking streets to prevent aggressive and reckless driving in the first place.

LA, meet your underfunded Vision Zero program.

According to the Los Angeles Times,

Among the recommendations put forth by the city report is investing in so-called “self-enforcing infrastructure,” such as narrower streets, dedicated bike lanes and more clearly marked pedestrian crosswalks.

Such measures naturally slow the flow of traffic and discourage drivers from speeding or breaking other road laws. Much like the Vision Zero initiative — unveiled in 2015 by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti to end traffic deaths within a decade — they would increase safety and reduce the need for active enforcement in “high-injury network corridors, low-income communities, and communities of color,” the report said.

While the city could build on the existing Vision Zero model, the report said, it should be less reliant on law enforcement.

Then again, Vision Zero supporters have stressed that last part since the program was adopted.

The program — at least as envisioned in the original European approach — is based on re-envisioning infrastructure to prevent behavior that too often leads to traffic deaths, rather than the Americanized approach of increased enforcement and education.

Which may be cheaper, but it’s a lot less effective, as countless failed Vision Zero programs across the US attest.

Including right here in Los Angeles.

The study goes on to address the rising rates of traffic violence — as well as other forms of violence from motorists — directed at people outside of cars, whether they’re walking, biking or living on the streets.

From the chronic problem of people running stop signs to a rise in sideshows that occasionally lead to injuries — such as street takeovers or drag racing — the work group found that the “aggressiveness of drivers towards nondrivers, including the unhoused, is a growing problem in Los Angeles.”

Headlines describing road violence involving pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists have piled up in recent months, including one case last month in which police say a possibly impaired driver barreled into a mother and her 6-year-old daughter as they walked to school in Mid-Wilshire. The mother was killed and the girl was critically injured…

The city’s streets remain particularly deadly for pedestrians and bicyclists, with 159 people killed in collisions involving pedestrians and motorists last year. This is a 19% rise compared with 2021, LAPD data show. An additional 20 people died in collisions involving bicyclists and motorists, an 11% rise.

The report also calls for further reducing the kind of pretextual stops we’ve too often seen directed against people on bicycles — particularly people of color — who may be stopped for a minor traffic violation, only to find themselves handcuffed and searched.

Or in some cases, shot.

The question is whether the LAPD’s powerful police union will be willing to give up responsibility for traffic enforcement, which is anything but a given at this point.

Particularly since they haven’t even been willing to embrace automated speed cams.

Other questions involve what happens when drivers flee a traffic stop, or when the unarmed civilians are confronted by armed motorists.

But it’s worth pursuing to see if we can make it work.

Especially if it means finally embracing the changes to our streets we’ve already agreed are needed.

………

Closing arguments are scheduled for today, after the defense rested in the murder trial of Desert Hot Springs resident Ronnie Ramon Huerta Jr, for the high speed death of Washington resident Mark Kristofferson during the 2018 Tour de Palm Spring.

Huerta was allegedly driving stoned and without a license when he ran down Kristofferson at speeds up to 100 mph; he was arrested after being detained by witnesses in a nearby field as he attempted to run away on foot.

He also faces charges for leaving Huntington Beach resident Alyson Lee Akers with lasting injuries, in a crash just seconds from the brutal impact that killed Kristofferson.

The case could go to the jury as early as this afternoon.

………

A new bill could be the first step in ushering out parking minimums nationwide.

The bill, co-sponsored by four Democratic Representatives, including Long Beach Congressman Robert Garcia, would extend California’s approach to eliminating parking minimums near transit hubs to the federal level.

It’s a start, anyway.

Although the chances of getting the bill through the Republican-controlled House seem pretty minimal, at best.

………

Speaking of which, the Los Angeles Times reviews Slate columnist Henry Grabar’s new bookPaved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World, describing it as “a romp, packed with tales of anger, violence, theft, lust, greed, political chicanery and transportation policy gone wrong.”

If you own a car, you’ve got to park it somewhere. If you live in or near a city — most of us do — the consequences are all around you. Everyone already knows how fundamentally the automobile has shaped our physical environment, the residents of Los Angeles County perhaps most of all. Roads and highways are only part of it.

“Paved Paradise” sensitized me to just how profoundly parking itself has contributed to the uglification of urban life, creating, as one of Grabar’s sources puts it, “a super-mundane environment that people just want to move through.” He notes a sad fact about “The Sims,” the popular reality-cloning video game, which tried to simulate the world as accurately as possible but had to cut back dramatically on the overwhelming presence of parking lots for its simulated city. The visual result would have been too grim…

California, inevitably, figures heavily in “Paved Paradise.” The paradise line from the famous Joni Mitchell song “Big Yellow Taxi” that gives Grabar his title may have been inspired by Hawaii, but Los Angeles is its truest manifestation. In the 1920s, as those newfangled private motor cars gummed up traffic, street-side parking downtown was banned. The result: comfortably smooth traffic flow and a revenue decline for downtown merchants of 50%.

It’s a good read, about what sounds like a surprisingly good read about parking, and how too much emphasis on cars can destroy cities.

It’s going on my reading list, anyway.

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LA street safety PAC Streets For All is hosting their virtual happy hour this evening, featuring CD1 Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez.

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Metro is celebrating bike month in Los Angeles County with free rides on Bike Day — formerly known as Bike to Work Day — as well as $1 bikeshare passes and a long list of bicycle classes.

Although here’s a link to the Metro Shop to replace the broken link on the page above, in case anyone else wants the backpack in the photo, which doesn’t seem to actually exist.

https://twitter.com/metrolosangeles/status/1655996701767761922

However, the real peak to this year’s Bike Month may come the following weekend, when Long Beach hosts their latest Beach Streets open streets event on Saturday, May 20th, followed by CicLAvia’s first Ciclamini in Watts the next day.

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San Diego’s BikeSD reminds us about next week’s annual Ride of Silence to remember bike riders killed in traffic violence.

So far, there are two rides scheduled for the Los Angeles area, with the usual Rose Bowl ride joined by another in East Hollywood.

Pasadena

Contact: Thomas Cassidy    <–Send email
Distance: 12 mi.

Los Angeles

Contact: Rafael Hernandez   <–Send email
Distance: 10 mi
Notes: Location is tentatively scheduled to start and end at Reciclos pending confirmation from the venue

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The San Diego County Bike Coalition wants to know where you want to see the city’s upcoming open streets events.

https://twitter.com/sdbikecoalition/status/1655997210738429952

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Works for people on bicycles, too.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.

Proving once again that no good deed goes unpunished, a New Haven, Connecticut bike rider was shot after arguing with a second motorist when he tried to help a driver who’d fallen asleep at the wheel.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A Florida man was busted for being a bike-riding porch pirate.

Actor James Norton is one of us, although he might regret that after London’s Daily Mail goes ballistic when he’s seen jumping a red light in the city.

Two friends were “viciously” attacked when a London man deliberately rode his bikeshare bike into one of them, then punched the other in the face, breaking his glasses. Although I’d think a truly vicious attack would result in more than just broken spectacles. But what the hell do I know?

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Local 

LA County wants your input on how to update the county bike plan, and improve conditions for people on bikes in unincorporated areas of the county. Thanks to Dr. Grace Peng for the heads-up, who reminds us to request completion of the LA River and Ballona Creek bike paths, which are under county control.

Former UFC interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson was busted on suspicion of DUI after his truck hit at least two other cars and flipped over in Hollywood early Sunday; fortunately, no one was injured.

Santa Clarita wants you to Hit the Trail this Saturday, with an informal, self-guided community bike ride exploring the city’s bike trail system.

 

State

Streetsblog says the pandemic kind of increased street space allocation for California bike riders, but more is needed.

California’s Equity-First Transportation Funding Act (AB 1525) would require that 60% of the state’s transportation funds would have to directly benefit “priority populations” in historically marginalized communities.

A 23-year old San Diego man was hospitalized with an open fracture to his right ankle after failing to land a bike stunt.

Two 57-year old men were seriously injured when their bikes collided as they were riding together in San Diego’s Point Loma neighborhood last Friday.

Fresno is marking Bike Month with a Ride With the Mayor event. Meanwhile, Los Angeles isn’t.

Sad news from Hayward, where a 29-year old Salinas man was killed in a collision while riding his bike Sunday night. But the driver wasn’t drunk or stoned, so apparently it’s okay. 

Five people were injured when an ebike battery caught fire in a San Francisco apartment Tuesday morning.

 

National

Every city in Oregon can now use speed cams, after the state’s governor signed a bill expanding the current ten-city pilot program. Meanwhile, speed cams continue to be illegal in California, for reasons no one seems able to adequately explain. 

A Salt Lake City public radio station says it will take more than reducing costs to establish an ebike society in the region.

Denver is working with nonprofit bike registration program 529 Garage to replace the city’s existing bike registration system. Meanwhile, the LAPD is using Bike Index to register and recover bikes. Although bike registration does more to recover bikes after they’re stolen than to prevent thefts in the first place. 

Colorado is set to offer a $12 million income-based e-bike incentive program, building on the successful Denver ebike rebate program. It’s also $2 million more than California’s long delayed program, despite having just 14% of California’s population. 

Oops. A Wisconsin man will spend another six months behind bars after a judge revoked his deferred sentencing agreement for noncompliance, after he originally spent just two months in jail for seriously injuring a bike rider; he will also be required to maintain absolute sobriety for the next five years.

The Federal Highway Administration has approved New York City’s proposed congestion pricing plan, after an environmental review resulted in a “Finding of No Significant Impact” on the surrounding region.

The star of TLC’s Welcome to Plathville is taking a sabbatical from social media after her 15-year old brother was killed in a collision while riding his bike in Franklin County, Virginia.

Florida bike riders could soon get that healthy radioactive glow, after the state legislature passed a law mandating a study of using radioactive phosphogypsum as a paving material, although using the agricultural byproduct would require EPA approval.

 

International

No bias here. A couple of candidates for mayor of Toronto clashed over whether bike lanes help or hurt traffic congestion, even as one insists he’s not anti-bike lanes while promising to rip them out anyway.

That’s more like it. A British appeals court increased the sentence of a “callous,” speeding driver, resentencing him to six years behind bars for killing a man on a bicycle while driving at 82mph, after concluding the original sentence of four years and eight months was too lenient.

Ebike sales are booming throughout Europe — except in the UK, where they actually shrank last year. But that may have more to do with the UK deciding it’s not part of Europe anymore.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, with the new Seine à Vélo bike route that follows the river from Paris to the Normandy coast.

Bicycling reports one man is dead, and two other people injured, after a stoned Spanish motorcyclist plowed into a group of Polish bike riders vacationing in Mallorca. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

After a South African bike rider was killed when he fell off his bike and was struck by a driver, the local press somehow feels the need to note that his bike was undamaged. As if it’s okay as long as his bike survived.

 

Competitive Cycling

In a surprising turn, Norway’s Andreas Leknessund took the leader’s jersey from pre-race favorite Remco Evenepoel in Tuesday’s 4th stage of the Giro, becoming just the second Norwegian to wear the pink jersey, and the first in 42 years.

American Sepp Kuss successfully pulled off a high risk, high speed battery swap in Monday’s Stage 3 of the Giro.

Bicycling offers a calendar of amateur bike races and events for the next two years. This one isn’t available on other sites, however, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you. 

 

Finally…

Your next e-cargo bike could be grown, not made. Now you, too, can use your new e-truck to charge your ebike.

And that feeling when the internet really loves your new bike fest logo.

[deleted by user]
by inDesignPorn

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

NY bike path terrorist spared death penalty, and memorial ride Saturday for murdered bike rider Dr. Michael Mammone

Convicted terrorist Sayfullo Saipov will spend the rest of his life in a Super Max prison, after a New York jury failed to agree on the death penalty.

Saipov was convicted of killing eight people, and injuring several others, when he drove a rented U-Haul truck down a Manhattan bike path on Halloween Day in 2017.

Several of the other victims suffered life-altering injuries, ranging from paralysis to lost limbs.

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Laguna Beach will host a Ride in Peace memorial ride on Saturday for Dr. Michael Mammone, who was murdered by a man apparently suffering from mental illness as he was riding his bike last month.

Dr. Mammone, an emergency physician with Providence Mission Hospital, was stopped at a red light on PCH in Laguna Beach when he was allegedly intentionally run down from behind by Vanroy Evan Smith, who got out of his car and stabbed Mammone to death, apparently choosing his victim at random.

So when you ride to remember Dr. Mammone this weekend, remember, too, this country’s failed mental health system that led to his murder.

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Some of LA’s leading advocacy groups are teaming up to fight for safer streets.

Although the question is whether street safety advocacy groups Streets For All and Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, weren’t invited, or chose not to play.

And why, either way.

https://twitter.com/LosAngelesWalks/status/1633961609013116929

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ActiveSGV invites you to help scout out the next 626 Golden Streets ride.

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Mark your calendar for June’s Culver City Pride Ride.

https://twitter.com/CulverCityPride/status/1633252099537666050

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This is why people keep dying on our streets.

And why it will only get worse as vehicles keep getting bigger.

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Very cool to know the estimable will.i.am is one of us.

And so, evidently, is Twisted Sister.

………

The war on cares may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.

Fox News wants you to be afraid, very afraid, of ebikes and their supposedly exploding batteries.

Apparently, it’s okay to pass someone on a bike too close, as long as they’re riding a Penny Farthing on the streets of London.

A bike rider in Bristol, England says he’s fed up with a “pointless” bike lane, which is always blocked by drivers who find their desire for a convenient cup of coffee more important than his desire to stay alive.

Sadly, the tweet below is an all-too typical example of victim blaming, when watching the replay at the end makes it clear the bike rider was right hooked; thankfully, the victim escaped unscathed, even if his bike didn’t.

But sometimes, its the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Inconsiderate bikeshare users will be now be charged five times as much for dumping rental ebikes in central London — a whopping ten pounds, or $12.16 at current exchange rates.

Um, okay. A Dutch “traffic psychologist” blames Amsterdam’s “bicycle fetish” for traffic misconduct, describing it as a feeling of superiority that “my bike and I are completely in charge here.” A feeling I would love to have just once in my life.

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Local 

LAist recommends riding with People for Mobility Justice if you want to make friends on two wheels. And talks with honored PMJ volunteer and immigrant rights advocate Erick Huerta.

Nice move from South LA’s East Side Riders, who are marking their 16th anniversary by establishing an ebike lending library for residents of Watts, Willowbrook and Compton.

UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs takes justifiable pride in parking maester Donald Shoup being featured in discussions of parking reform in both the New York Times and the Congress for New Urbanism’s Public Square.

This is who we share the road with. A Pasadena man faces charges for repeatedly, and intentionally, ramming a woman’s car after rear-ending her at a red light; he was arrested after causing a disturbance at a nearby business.

A Santa Monica man faces hate crime and attempted murder charges for yelling racial slurs at a Black man who was just walking his dog, then attacking a Black man and woman with a pipe on an Expo Line platform, again shouting racial slurs, after fleeing the first scene on his bike when nearby firefighters intervened.

Work has finally begun on a long-planned beautification project on Front Street in San Pedro, including construction of a 22-foot wide multiuse path.

 

State

Caltrans announced a number of traffic safety projects in Orange County, including extending bike lanes through intersections in Huntington Beach.

The Orange County Register invites you to sign up for their new traffic and transportation email newsletter, The Road Ahead. Let’s just hope they take an expansive view of transportation, rather than just limiting it to the vroom, vroom crowd. 

Hats off to Carlsbad, which has narrowed traffic lanes on historic Highway 101, aka Carlsbad Blvd, reducing one section to just one lane to make room for a buffered bike lane, as well as marking areas where drivers and bike riders have to share the lane.

Five-time world champion triathlete Lesley Paterson co-wrote and executive produced the German movie All Quiet On The Western Front, which won four Oscars out of nine nominations, including best foreign language film; she wrote the script as she rode her bike around San Diego. I always did my best work while riding my bike, too. 

A Streetsblog op-ed accuses San Francisco officials of trying to fake their way to Vision Zero, citing the failure to slow speeding drivers and improve safety on the city’s Franklin Street.

That’s more like it. A first-term Oakland councilmember says she’s had it with the city’s dangerous streets.

 

National

CityLab suggests e-trikes are coming to the rescue of aging suburban Boomers, who quickly discover the roads aren’t as friendly for people on wide bikes as they are for drivers.

Bicycling says the Bicycle Film Festival is coming to your living room through the end of this month. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

MotorBiscuit raises the question of whether a bicyclist is a driver or pedestrian, saying bike riders exist in a weird gray area between the two. Which is exactly the problem, since people riding bikes are neither one, but traffic planners, engineers and government officials insist on forcing us into one camp or the other. 

Portland is considering an update to the city’s Freight Master Plan, including a proposal to use cargo bikes for last-mile deliveries.

Advocates in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown are pushing for construction of a “world class bike park” on the site of the former football stadium where I used to play in the marching band. And may have smuggled booze for the band inside my tuba.

This is who we share the road with. In a truly bizarre case, a Texas boy is dead, along with two horses, when a driver slammed into three teenaged rustlers riding stolen horses along a freeway.

Evidently, Los Angeles isn’t the only place with inconsiderate film crews, as Chicago bike advocates had to spring into action when the catering crew for Chicago Fire set up shop in a separated bike lane.

Chicago Magazine takes a ride down the city’s busiest, and most dangerous, bikeway, where 50 bike riders have been hit by cars, and three killed, in the last three years.

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor is proposing to more than double spending on recreational trails, raising funding from an average of $7 million to $18 million a year.

Illinois is considering an ebike rebate bill, with a focus on people who receive government assistance or earn less than 300% of the federal poverty level. Which is similar to plans for California’s ebike rebate program, if it ever actually happens.

Kindhearted community members pitched in to buy a $4,000 ebike for a 60-year old Bowling Green, Kentucky bike shop worker who rides his bike everywhere, due to a learning disability that prevents him from driving.

A Philadelphia man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the driveby shooting that killed a 16-year old boy who was just riding his bike home from a convenience store, in a case of mistaken identity.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. DC is replacing its flimsy plastic car-tickler bendy posts with concrete dividers to improve safety on separated bike lanes where drivers have just driven over the plastic bollards.

A Florida lawyer and bicyclist alleges that Miami-Dade County has done absolutely nothing to improve safety in the nine months after two bicyclists were killed riding along the city’s deadly Rickenbacker Causeway.

Police have charged an 86-year-old Clearwater, Florida man for the hit-and-run death of a 36-year old woman riding her bike. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive, and why officials insist on keeping elderly drivers on the road until it’s too late. 

 

International

Momentum Magazine says getting serious about active transportation in Europe means getting serious about eliminating street parking. The same would be true in this country, except eliminating street parking seems to be a nonstarter most places.

Momentum also considers the best ways to carry groceries on your bicycle.

A British Columbia writer says biking to work is her form of self-care, after becoming lethargic and irritable working from home.

A Toronto op-ed says the city’s residents are turning from cars to bicycles, which is reflected in a new condo development.

Scotland’s Endura bikewear manufacturer takes helmet design to the extreme by auctioning off four bike helmets imprinted with actual CAT scans of bicyclists who suffered life-threatening brain injuries, to benefit The Brain Charity in the UK. I’ll pass, thank you.

Cycling Weekly examines the phenomenon of middle-aged British men geeking out over vintage bikes. In my case, it’s just lusting after the classic bikes I couldn’t afford when I was younger. Then again, I can’t afford them now, either.

Brexit claimed another victim, as the UK distributor for bike brands including Tern Bicycles, Lake, Forme, ETC, Emmelle and MeThree has entered liquidation proceedings.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 74-year old driver walked without a day behind bars for killing 41-year old father as he rode his bike. But at least he won’t get his license back until he’s 81.

A 49-year old Irish woman embraced the single life as she rode her bicycle through six continents, describing herself as “just Bridget Jones on a bike.”

A Hong Kong man faces charges for stealing the bicycle of a Chinese influencer, which he had ridden through 32 Chinese provinces over the past three years.

Bike riders blame aggressive motorists as Australian bicycling injuries reach a record high.

 

Competitive Cycling

VeloNews says French cyclist David Gaudu is setting hearts aflame in his home country with hopes for the Tour de France, after finishing second to Tadej Pogačar in Paris-Nice.

No bias here. Cycling’s governing body showed its antagonism towards diabetics competing at the highest level by stripping Alaska’s Kristen Faulkner of her surprising third-place finish in the Strade Bianche Donne for wearing a continuous glucose monitor during the race.

Rouleur tells the “heartwarming” story of how French cyclist Romain Bardet’s old bike is carrying the dreams of Oman’s national champion, as he strives to race in Europe.

Bicycling reports Belgian road and track cyclist Lotte Kopecky will take part in this week’s Nokere Koerse race, despite the unexpected death of her 29-year old brother last week. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you. 

If you held the Strava KOM for Tenerife volcano Mount Teide, Remco Evenepoel  has some bad news for you.

Nothing like having a rogue motorist driving salmon on a supposedly closed bike race course during Sunday’s final stage of Paris-Nice.

 

Finally…

When you’re carrying meth and heroin on your bike, maybe don’t pop a wheelie in the middle of an intersection with the cops looking on. That feeling when you need a ebike that shares tech with the Mars Rover.

And fortunately, she said yes. Because it would have been very embarrassing to jump off a bike mid-race to propose, otherwise.

https://www.tiktok.com/@hanner.knapp/video/7202635612095024426?embed_source=121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_blank&refer=embed&referer_url=www.bikemag.com%2Ftrending-news%2Fcyclist-dream-proposal&referer_video_id=7202635612095024426

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Let me offer a special thanks to a longtime friend of this site, who made an unexpected donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way every day, which literally came in five minutes before an automatic payment would have bounced. 

As always, donations of any size, any time and for any reason are always welcome and very appreciated.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Plea deal in death of 15-year old Javier Gonzalez, grieving families fight for safer streets, and housing for people not cars

Happy World Bicycle Day!

Now get out there and ride one.

And contact your elected leaders to demand safer streets when you get back.

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It looks like there will be justice for Javier Gonzalez, after all.

If you consider over six years justice for fleeing the scene after killing a teenage boy.

Thirty-seven-year old Riverside resident Rosendo Morales Caldera pled guilty to hit-and-run resulting in death, with a sentencing enhancement for fleeing the scene of a crime, after prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor count of driving without a license.

Caldera was accused of killing Gonzalez last March as the 15-year old boy rode salmon with his friends on a Riverside street, slamming head-on into his bicycle before speeding away without stopping.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 13th. Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of six years and eight months, significantly above the standard penalty of four years for a fatal hit-and-run in California.

And yet, it seems like it’s still not enough.

Caldera has a lengthy criminal record, with prior convictions for car theft, possessing a forged driver’s license, vandalism, and being felon in possession of a firearm; he was out on probation at the time of Gonzalez’ death.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels.

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Today’s must read is a hard-hitting, inspiring and heartbreaking piece from the New Yorker, about families of fallen pedestrians and bike riders who banded together to fight for safer streets — leading to the country’s first Vision Zero in New York, and traffic safety wins at city hall and the state capital.

And balanced out by just as many losses.

The group they founded, Families for Safe Streets, has grown to include chapter across the US, including here in Southern California. Each of whom has lost a family member to traffic violence.

But this is what they’re up against.

By century’s end, cars had grown progressively larger, better insulated from the feedback of the surrounding environment, and safer for the people inside them. Those on the outside were less lucky. The U.S. automotive lobby resisted regulations enacted in Europe that made cars and trucks less lethal, and, by 2018, the number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths per kilometre in the United States was more than four times higher than in the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Among the most vulnerable are older adults, who in 2020 made up twenty per cent of killed pedestrians, and people who live in low-income neighborhoods where there has been little investment in safe road design.

Between 2010 and 2019, as the number of U.S. drivers or passengers who died in collisions held fairly steady, deaths of those on bikes rose thirty-six per cent, and deaths of those on foot nearly doubled.

It’s a long piece. But more that worth the time you’ll invest in reading it.

………

A columnist for The New York Times says California has to flip the paradigm of having too much housing for cars, and not enough for people.

Farhad Manjoo calls for the passage of AB 2097, which would prohibit minimum parking requirements near public transit, or at least SB 1067, which gives developers more leeway to get around parking minimums.

Meanwhile, UCLA parking meister Donald Shoup calls for enforcing the state’s parking cash-out law to reduce emissions and fight climate change.

………

For early risers, the LACBC will host a Twitter Space to discuss women, children and bicycling starting at 6:00 this morning.

Yes, 6 am.

So chances are, you may have already missed it.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bike just keeps on going.

No bias here. Call it friendly fire, as a self-professed non-leg-shaving cyclist says everyone hates bike riders, so we should ride cringingly at the edge of the road to keep from annoying drivers more than they already are. Even in the English countryside where he says hedges block drivers’ views, making it far safer to take the lane, regardless of who you piss off.

Horrible news from the UK, where a woman riding a bicycle was left with a life-changing injury when a man sicced one of his large dogs on her, forcing it to bite her upper leg and clamp down for several minutes until she managed to break free, after accusing her of nearly running into his kid on a bike path. Let’s hope he goes away for a long time. And those dogs — and his kid — get a new home with someone who isn’t so cruel.

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Local

A writer for City Watch pushes back on the recently approved plans for a bus rapid transit line on Colorado Blvd through Eagle Rock, calling the reallocation of traffic lanes undemocratic because it doesn’t give all the road space to people in cars. Even though it seems far more democratic to reserve space for pedestrians, bike riders and yes, transit users, too.

The LACBC is working with Los Angeles Walks on a pilot program to encourage business owners in Wilmington and San Pedro to use ebikes.

 

State 

Calbike offers an update on active transportation bills in the state legislature, with a number still alive, including bills to legalize jaywalking, treat stop signs as yields, and require cities to include bike and pedestrian facilities in their circulation plans.

An op-ed from an Escondido urban planning student says California cities are unwalkable, unbikeable and dangerous, but they don’t have to be.

Très scandaleux! A San Diego TV station claims to have caught the 30th Street bike counter double counting some bike riders, not counting others, and even counting an armored truck illegally parked in the lane, which some local business owners claim proves the new bike lane is underused.

Berkeley residents are fighting for a carfree future on Telegraph Ave north of the UC Berkeley campus; as usual, business owners along the street are fighting back, unable to imagine any customers walking or biking to get there. If customers won’t walk or bike a few blocks to do business with you, there’s something seriously wrong with the way you do business.

 

National

NACTO says the US Department of Transportation is still taking comments on proposed safety regulations to make massive trucks and SUVs safer for bike riders and pedestrians; you have through Wednesday to voice your concerns. Or you can follow their template.

Portland is now installing lengthy lines of bike racks along sidewalks in an effort to keep homeless people from sleeping there.

Housing inspectors in Minneapolis are saying goodbye to their SUVs and using Rad Power ebikes to conduct their inspections instead; the city purchased five of the ebikes for a total of $12,000, and have already put 1,200 miles on them. Which is a hell of a lot less than they would have paid for five motor vehicles.

Syracuse NY is expected to approve a $700,000 settlement for a man who was critically injured when a speeding cop slammed into his bicycle; witnesses said the police car was traveling without lights or siren.

That’s more like it. New York City officials call for automated bike lane cams to crack down on scofflaw drivers who can’t resist turning them into parking lots.

One casualty of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was New York’s ultrafast bicycle delivery startup Buyk, which was forced to declare bankruptcy and layoff all of its American employees when US sanctions cut off access to its Russian co-founders and parent company, as well as financing from Russian banks.

Very Local highlights the top five “bicycling adventures” in the Big Easy. Although I suspect most New Orleans bike riders would prefer if riding there wasn’t quite so adventurous. 

Life is cheap in Florida, where a Vero Beach driver walked with a lousy $148 fine for swerving into a bike lane and killing a 63-year old man riding a bike, despite his long record of traffic violations and refusal to take a blood test.

 

International

Financial Times calls bicycles the cheap, green, low-tech solution for the world’s poorer megacities. Then again, they’re a pretty good solution for the rich ones, too. You can also read it here if you can’t get past their paywall.

Mounties in New Brunswick have written just 121 tickets in the five years since the province passed the equivalent of a three-foot passing law, known locally as Ellen’s Law, for a rising pro cyclist who was killed by a passing driver.

A Philippine transport group marks World Bicycle Day by calling on the government to ensure people on bicycles arrive alive.

A new study from a Sydney, Australia hospital shows injuries to delivery bicyclists are dramatically underreported, with delivery riders 13 times more likely than other bicyclists to be injured between the hours of 8 pm and midnight.

Melbourne, Australia will halt the installation of new bike lanes in the central business district, apparently unprepared for an entirely predictable bikelash from businesses and delivery drivers.

 

Competitive Cycling

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 89-year old Texas man is determined to complete this weekend’s 200-mile Gravel Unbound race, after missing the time cut at the 120-mile checkpoint last year.

European carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website ranks the three greatest domestiques of all time.

 

Finally…

Start your new career as an NYC bike lane inspector. Fix your own bike, already.

And face it, you just can’t duck karma, instant or otherwise.

https://twitter.com/naturecampanion/status/1532350421062553602

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the link.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.