Tag Archive for salmon cyclist

Juneteenth celebration at CicLAvia, settlement reached in Kizzee shooting, and 16-to-life for killer DUI bike path driver

June 12, 2023 / / Comments Off on Juneteenth celebration at CicLAvia, settlement reached in Kizzee shooting, and 16-to-life for killer DUI bike path driver

Let’s start with a reminder about Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia.

The upcoming CicLAvia, arguably the nation’s largest and most popular open streets event, will run directly down Vermont Ave from Exposition to Century Blvd, before taking a three-block dogleg to the left along Century.

The Father’s Day event will undoubtedly see multiple celebrations of dads along the route, officially or otherwise.

It will also celebrate Monday’s Juneteenth legal holiday, which marks the day enslaved Americans in south Texas finally heard the long-delayed news of their freedom — marking the last of the southern slaves to be freed following the Civil War.

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The father and aunt of Dijon Kizzee, who was fatally shot by a pair of sheriff’s deputies while riding a bike in South LA three years ago, have reached a conditional settlement in their lawsuit against Los Angeles County.

Settlement terms for the $35 million lawsuit were not announced.

Kizzee was shot 15 times as he tried to flee from the deputies over what began as a traffic stop for riding on the wrong side of the street.

Kizzee allegedly struggled with one of the deputies, striking him in the face and dropping a gun he was carrying; he was shot after he picked it up, even though he was running away from the deputies and didn’t point the gun in their direction.

His shooting came amid the protests over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, leading many to argue he was killed for biking while Black.

No one was ever charged in the case.

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The Sacramento driver who killed a 76-year old man while driving drunk on a riverfront bike path has been sentenced to a minimum of 16 years behind bars, with the possibility of life imprisonment.

Michael Dodson was riding his bike on the American River bike path when he was run down by 27-year old Armando Moreno-Rodriguez, who had somehow driven onto the ostensibly carfree pathway.

After crashing into Dodson, Moreno-Rodriguez drove another four miles on the path at speeds up to 35 mph before his car shut down, officials said.

Moreno-Rodriguez was convicted on charges of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run involving death, and driving with a suspended license.

He had signed a Watson advisement after three previous due convictions, which states that he could be charged with murder if he killed someone while driving under the influence anytime in the future.

Which he did.

Moreno-Rodriguez had blood alcohol level of .27, over three times the legal limit.

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Santa Monica Families for Safe Streets sent out a notice that the city’s new 17th Street protected bike lanes could be at risk.

Councilmember Phil Brock is has placed an item on the agenda for this Tuesday’s city council meeting tasking staff with looking into significantly undermining the new 17th St protected bike lane.

Let the City Council know that you support the bike lane by sending them an email.

Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.

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The Ballona Creek bike path will be closed from 8 am to 3 pm on Wednesday and Thursday between Duquesne and Jackson Aves in Culver City.

As a result, last Saturday’s volunteer bush clearing effort was cancelled.

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Good question.

Will LA’s largely apathetic bike community ever stage a large-scale protest ride on Wilshire Blvd?

Or anywhere else, for that matter?

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

No bias here. An Arizona letter writer complains about scofflaw bike riders blatantly disregarding traffic laws, arguing they make other bicyclists look bad and should all appear in court. Apparently failing to notice the people in the big, dangerous machines speeding, failing to signal lane changes and turns, and watching their phones instead of the street in front of them.

Horrible news from the Baltimore area, where a man is accused of intentionally running down a bike rider with his pickup, then getting out and physically attacking the victim until police arrived to halt the assault; the victim was lucky to escape without life-threatening injuries.

A Vancouver driver apparently tried to drive over a metal bollard thinking it was a plastic car-tickler bendie-post, while driving on what should have been a carfree bikeway.

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

A letter writer complains that while older bike riders stopped to help as she walked back to her car after suffering a flat while riding with her toddler, bike riders in their 20s just seemed annoyed that they existed.

A road raging bike rider and van driver engaged in a tug-of-war over the rider’s bicycle, after he had reached into the van and grabbed the driver’s keys before throwing them down the roadway.

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Local 

This is who we share the road with. A La Puente homeowner was lucky to escape without major damage after two California Highway Patrol officers chasing a motorcyclist collided and crashed into the home’s front yard.

A Santa Monica resident complains that crime, including bike theft, is the beach city’s biggest wave.

 

State

The LA Daily News notes the passage of AB 645 last month, which would establish a speed cam pilot program in California, with just seven dissenting votes in the state Assembly; the bill must pass out of the Senate Transportation Committee by July 14 to stay alive. 

No surprise here, as Black bike riders and pedestrians in San Diego are four times more likely to be stopped by police than white people, just like they are in Los Angeles and the rest of the state.

British Prince Archie is one of us, after the four-year old son of Prince Harry and Megan Markle was given a $250 kids bike with removable training wheels, courtesy of Santa Barbara’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen bike shop.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a $10,000 bicycle from a rider participating in the AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising ride as they passed through Lompoc.

 

National

Your Strava privacy could be at risk.

An Oregon group donated over 400 refurbished bicycles to more than 300 families in need to help get kids on bikes this summer.

A Scottsdale, Arizona council member assures listeners the city “is not run by morons” as he defends a decision to build a road diet, despite opposition from three of the seven members of the city council.

After thieves stole the new ebike a well-known 70-something social and climate activist used as his only form of transportation, his fellow Longmont, Colorado residents have stepped up to replace it, raising over two grand of the $3,500 goal.

Speaking of Juneteenth, a 60-mile Texas bike ride traveled the route the newly freed people took from Galveston to Houston.

A Cambridge, Massachusetts letter writer complains about the city’s Schrödinger’s bike lanes, which appear to be simultaneously safe and unsafe due to the city’s incomplete data.

A Boston neighborhood group gets out the torches and pitchforks over a plan for a protected bike lane on the city’s Back Bay leading to Fenway Park, bizarrely arguing that improving safety for bike riders will somehow make it more dangerous for everyone. Which is exactly the opposite of what studies have shown. 

 

International

Bike theft in Vancouver has dropped 52% since the city began a free bike registration program with 529 Garage in 2015, declining every year since it was adopted.

A new London play uses bicycles to power the production about the disproportionate effects of the climate crisis for marginalized communities.

Fifteen Birmingham, England advocacy groups signed a letter calling for an “end to road violence” after three people riding bicycles were killed in three weeks, including a 12-year old boy; a vigil was held as drivers ignored a nearby red light.

British bikemaker Planet X will live on, after the company was sold in bankruptcy to Britain’s Winlong Garments Ltd.

Your next gravel bike could be an actual Lamborghini, yours for the low, low price of nine grand.

Italy’s transportation minister is calling for mandatory license plates, liability insurance, bike helmets and turn signals for bicycles and e-scooters, putting the burden to improve safety on the victims, rather than doing anything about the big, dangerous machines that actually pose the risk to everyone on the streets; even the UK’s conservative The Spectator calls it a step too far.

An Indian man tells the local press not to write any sad stories about him, as he uses a rented bike to make food deliveries because he can’t afford to buy a bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

The three stage women’s Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées was halted during the final stage, after riders protested the dangers posed by “oncoming traffic, parked cars and trucks blocking roads, hazardous motorbikes, and spectators wandering on the roads.”

 

Finally…

Why settle for magic beans when your bike could run on “intelligent beads” — and with all-wheel drive? We may have to deal with venomous LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to deal with actual rattlesnakes — on city streets, anyway.

And this may be my favorite Banksy-style street art. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

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

June 3, 2022 / / Comments Off on 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.

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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.

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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.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Hit-and-run driver busted in death of 15-year old Riverside boy, and Metro active transportation virtual meeting next week

March 25, 2022 / / Comments Off on Hit-and-run driver busted in death of 15-year old Riverside boy, and Metro active transportation virtual meeting next week

Maybe there will be justice for Javier Gonzales after all.

Police in Riverside arrested 37-year old Rosendo Morales Caldera for the hit-and-run death of the 15-year old bike rider, who was killed on the first of this month.

Gonzales was riding salmon with a group of friends when he was run down by by the driver of a large black pickup, who kept going without slowing or stopping.

Caldera is currently being held behind bars in lieu of bail.

Police impounded his black Chevy truck as evidence, which should happen in every alleged hit-and-run.

But too often doesn’t.

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Here’s your chance to tell Metro what you need to be safer in your commute and community.

And maybe mention it’s time to stop wasting money on highway projects in the middle of a climate emergency.

https://twitter.com/MaverickMPA/status/1507238721891889153

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SoCal’s killer highway continues to claim new victims.

I’m told the victim works at the Getty Villa, which leaves no viable option to commute by bike other than PCH, which continues to operate as a cut-through highway when it should be Malibu’s Main Street.

https://twitter.com/KendallCaroline/status/1507034282799161360

Thanks to Todd Munson for the heads-up. 

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Slow roll Adams Blvd on Sunday to check out LADOT’s safety improvements on the formerly dangerous corridor.

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LACBC invites you to attend their first-ever Bike Salon on Thursday, which will actually be held in person, rather than virtually.

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OC bike advocate Mike Wilkinson is parting ways with his lovingly used tandem.

https://twitter.com/mikeocbike/status/1507128123044687873

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Apparently, even a five-year old can beat rush hour traffic on his way to school Britain. Even without decent bikeways.

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

In a prime example of too little, if not too late, Las Vegas area cops clamped down on drivers who endanger bike riders, enforcing traffic laws and educating motorists on how to share the road — for a whole four hours. Now they just need to do something the other 8,756 hours in the year.

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

Police busted a man who robbed a Kansas gas station, then made his getaway by bicycle. Maybe he was really just an anti-car freedom fighter raising funds for the rebellion. It could happen. 

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Local

No bias here. The Hancock Park Homeowners Association hosted a candidate forum for the people running to replace Paul Koretz in CD5 — but notably excluded former Mid City West Neighborhood Council chair Scott Epstein, a longtime supporter of a bike-friendly street on 4th Street opposed by the wealthy neighborhood.

 

State 

A 58-year old Rancho Bernardo man is planning to ride 3,400 miles across the US to raise funds for diabetic research, inspired by his 25-year old daughter, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was just eight months old.

A 32-year old Fresno man was stabbed when he tried to defend himself from a group of men who demanded his bike; fortunately, he’s expected to make a full recovery.

Sad news from Eureka, where someone on a bicycle was killed when they were run down by the driver of a pickup.

 

National

PeopleForBikes celebrates the removal of Trump’s 25% tariffs on Chinese-made bicycles and parts.

USA Today says you need an ebike to cope with rising gas prices. Meanwhile, CleanTechnica provides a primer on the proper care and feeding of your ebike.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission issued a recall for Ninebot Children’s Bicycle Helmets for failing to meet minimum federal safety standards.

Black and brown Colorado bike riders say the state’s proposed Stop As Yield law, aka the stop sign part of the Idaho Stop Law, would keep them safer from both cars and cops, reducing the risk of Biking While Black or Brown stops that target people of color, as well as reducing potentially dangerous interactions with police. Maybe that argument that would finally get a California bill past Newsom’s veto pen.

Hurry up to Yellowstone, where you can enjoy 49 miles of blissfully carfree roads for the next three weeks, before the national park is opened to motor vehicles. Although you still need to keep an eye peeled for bears and bison, among other potentially unfriendly fauna.

Even in Iowa, people are biking to work instead of driving, while a writer for the University of Iowa student newspaper says now is the perfect time to start bicycling.

A Memphis man is turning old car and truck tires into decorative barriers to protect people on bicycles.

Boston bike advocates point out the benefits of bicycling while calling for safer conditions on the streets.

A Louisiana driver who killed a bike rider last month tested positive for narcotics following the crash, though there’s no mention of what he was allegedly on.

A Florida man was convicted — again — of killing a teenaged boy over a stolen bicycle when he was just 15 years old. The victim had purchased the boy’s stolen bicycle, not knowing it was hot, then offered to sell it back to him for just $10; he returned with a gun after riding the bike home because he felt disrespected. The original conviction had been overturned because police had questioned him after he requested a lawyer. We’ve said it before — no bike is worth taking or sacrificing a life. Period.

 

International

Bike Radar offers a buyers guide to bike trailers, while confessing that yes, they do change how you have to ride and the way your bike feels

Bizarre case from Wales, where a woman played doctor — literally — by treating the victim of an ebike crash, despite having no medical background. Yet she somehow walked with the equivalent of a lousy $790 fine.

Oops. Scofflaw drivers who parked in an English shared bus and bike lane will get their fines refunded, after the city discovered the authorization for the lane had expired and they hadn’t bothered to renew it.

Life is cheap in Jersey, where a 67-year old driver walked with the equivalent of a $6,500 fine for the right-cross crash — the equivalent of a left-cross in the US — that likely left a bike-riding woman with lifelong pain from a broken back, fractured rib and collapsed lung.

A new study from a UC Berkeley researcher looks at the remarkably rapid Parisian bike boom, as the city transformed itself during the Covid pandemic.

Add this one to your bike bucket list. British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid rides the 75-mile car-free Vennbahn rail-trail through Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg, which remains a 30-foot wide swath of Belgium even as it passes through the other countries.

 

Competitive Cycling

Milan-San Remo winner Matej Mohorič says it wasn’t just the dropper post that delivered his victory, he also used oversized disc rotors and new, secret wheel bearings.

 

Finally…

Maybe God is out to get us, too. People are more likely to bike commute when slower drivers are less likely to kill them.

And that feeling when you try to break an iPhone by riding your bike off a phone booth.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Morning Links: An early endorsement for state senate, registration gets bikes back, and OCTA swims upstream

June 30, 2015 / / One comment

Getting a jump on next year’s elections, the Speaker of the California Assembly has endorsed former representative Steven Bradford for the state senate in next year’s elections.

Toni Adkins joins former LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Senator Robert Hertzberg and Speaker Emeritus John A. Pérez in endorsing Bradford.

And me, too.

Bradford is a bicyclist himself, and has worked in the legislature to improve safety for cyclists. Including sponsoring the first two attempts at passing a stronger version of the new three-foot passing law, which cleared the legislature before being vetoed by Gov. Brown.

It’s early in the game. But Steven Bradford has my unqualified support, having already proven himself to be an effective legislator.

And one of the good guys.

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This is why I keep pushing the Bike Index bicycle registration and stolen bike reporting available at the top of this page.

In just the last two weeks, the site has helped 11 stolen bikes find their way back home to their owners.

It’s free, period. To register, report a theft, or check a bike against the list of ones reported stolen in the area.

And it could make all the difference if someone makes off with yours.

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Just a week before the Tour de France, Mark Cavendish hurts his shoulder when it’s whacked with a camera by a too-close fan. Victory could be in the cards for Aussie rider Nathan Haas — literally — while Chris Froome risks being upstaged by his cat.

 

London’s Mail looks at how to get away with doping these days. Although that may not be necessary, if you can just get a support vehicle to follow you; a new study says that can be enough to affect the outcome of a race.

And writer for ESPN says women’s sports are boring and not worth watching; not surprisingly, women’s cyclists disagree. As does anyone who has watched women’s cycling for more than five minutes, or plans to watch the US take on Germany in today’s Women’s World Cup match.

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Local

Ding dong, LaBonge is gone. LA’s most outgoing cheerleader led summer bike rides, but blocked planned bikeways on Lankershim Blvd, as well as 4th and 6th Streets, and was a driving force behind the unsafe and pedestrian-unfriendly design recently adopted for the new Glendale-Hyperion Bridge.

A writer for the Daily Bruin calls for a Westwood bikeshare hub to give students greater access to LA. Although they will still need safe places to ride.

CiclaValley looks at Sunday’s successful LA River Ride. I had planned to be there myself, but my health issues knocked me on my ass all day.

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton talks with Richard McKinnon of Safe Streets Santa Monica about bringing data to street safety discussions. His group mapped 9,600 collisions over a 10-year period, and discovered less than fifty caused by cyclists.

Police bust a bike riding burglar perusing potentially purloin-able property in a subterranean SaMo garage.

 

State

A San Diego bike rider suffered minor injuries after he’s accused of running a red light in an early morning crash. The question is whether anyone other than the driver who hit him actually saw the victim go through the light. Because no driver would have an incentive to twist the facts, or anything.

A Santa Cruz cyclist really goes the extra mile — or more like a marathon — by riding back and getting his car to drive an injured bike-riding stranger to his home. Then replacing the man’s fluorescent lights and fixing his faucet and electric switches, as well as buying and mounting a new tire for his bike.

A San Francisco cyclist is on a one-woman mission to stop drivers from double parking in bike lanes. Maybe she could come down here next.

Bagdad by the Bay has become Bicyclists by the Bay, to the detriment of those poor, put upon drivers according one SF writer.

Streetsblog asks if a new bike lane in Orinda is the worst bike lane in the world; the lane directs bike riders to go straight between two right turn lanes, almost guaranteeing a high-speed right hook.

Remarkably, two mountain bikers are relatively okay after plunging 150 feet off a Marin County trail in separate incidents nearly seven hours apart, yet somehow landing in the same spot.

 

National

City Lab offers advice on how to hold onto your bike seat. And they take a look at that device developed by Chatanooga police to catch drivers violating the three-foot passing law.

A new bill in Congress would require the DOT to research new technology to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Las Vegas is fighting an epidemic of bicycling fatalities, with seven deaths this year compared to just one last year; four of those have been hit-and-runs. The story advises bicyclists to stay safe by walking across crosswalks, but has anyone ever done a study to determine if that really reduces risk?

Nice piece from Wichita KN, as cyclists surprise a riding buddy who suffered a massive stroke with a custom-made three-wheel ‘bent to get him back on the road. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

LA’s own Swrve is among the bike brands sponsoring musician Ben Weaver’s planned tour around Lake Superior next month.

A Connecticut driver faces a negligent homicide charge after left crossing a cyclist, even though the driver said he never saw him. Although the cops suspect the cyclist may have been speeding, based on nothing but speculation.

A new Delaware bill would encourage transit-friendly, walkable and bikeable economic development.

Boston may be the first proposed Olympic site without a velodrome, since no one seems to want it.

Athletes fight in every sport. But when bicyclists do it at the end of an Massachusetts race, it somehow becomes news.

As Philadelphia has become more bike friendly, surrounding counties have fallen behind.

New York’s Central Park goes partially car-free. Parks are for people, not cars — a lesson the people running Griffith Park still need to learn.

A New York cyclist shoots a TV quiz show, which could go national, from the seat of his bike.

New Orleans plans to narrow the massive neutral ground — aka median, to everyone else — on the city’s Napoleon Ave to make room for a walking path and bike lanes.

 

International

Two cyclists are competing against themselves and each other, riding a combined 150,000 miles in an attempt to break the year record.

An Ottawa writer gets it, saying there’s so much more to bike safety than just wearing a helmet. Note to Metro News: When you show a photo of a bike helmet, a caption saying it’s a bike helmet really isn’t necessary.

A handful of Canadian cities are building protected bike lanes; Montreal leads Saskatoon by 184 km to one.

The owners of a British trucking firm are banned from the business after an unlicensed and uninsured driver killed a cyclist while driving one of their trucks. Too bad we can’t hold business owners accountable like that over here.

A Brit bike rider is convicted of using “racially aggressive language” when a security guard tried to stop him from riding in a mall.

Bicycling could be the answer to providing care givers in rural areas in the UK.

France bans hands-free cell phone headsets, while Paris is making the massive roundabouts at seven major intersections safer for cyclists.

Burundi’s president may be controversial, but at least he bikes the vote. Even if his wife, soldiers and bodyguards had to walk behind him.

Injuries and fatalities blamed on Japanese bike riders have fallen dramatically, but authorities are cracking down on riders because the ratio of fatalities blamed on bicyclists has gone up. So it’s now illegal to hold an umbrella while you ride.

Instead of trying to make a car with two wheels, why not just build a better Korean e-bike?

 

Finally…

Why let facts get in the way, as Donald Trump evidently doesn’t understand the difference between a bike race and a bike ride, even though he used to sponsor one; the former, not the latter. A writer from my home state says bike lanes, potholes and marijuana are all part of a plot to force his city to go car-free; someone should tell him bikes need decent pavement, too.

And a seriously strange video from the Orange County Transportation Authority says don’t be a salmon.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links, Stolen Bikes and Bike Crime / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Update: BMX rider killed riding against traffic in Twentynine Palms Thursday night

March 21, 2014 / / 3 comments

A salmon cyclist was killed in Twentynine Palms last night.

According to the Hi Desert Star, a 32-year old man, whose identity has been withheld pending notification of next of kin, was riding against traffic on the north shoulder of Valley Vista Road west of Sherman Hoyt Road at 8:31 pm, when he reportedly attempted to cross the road. Note: The coroner’s office lists the victim’s age as 31.

He was struck by a westbound car driven by 31-year old Ann Marie Platzke of Twentynine Palms. The story inexplicably says he was struck from behind, which would be impossible given that they were traveling towards one another.

Other sources suggest the collision was head-on, which makes more sense. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:03 pm.

Investigators found an open container of alcohol near the victim, implying that he may have been riding under the influence, which is illegal under California law.

Drunk or not, the victim should have been able to see a car approaching directly in front of him on such a flat, straight road. Why he might have attempted to cross the road at that point will remain a tragic mystery.

This is the 25th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third in San Bernardino County.

Update: The victim has been identified as 31-year old Micky James Mroz of Lucerne Valley. 

My prayers and sympathy for Micky James Mroz and his loved ones.

Thanks to Danny Gamboa for the heads-up.

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

Pasadena bike rider killed in collision with salmon cyclist; 22nd cycling death in LA County this year

July 17, 2013 / / 24 comments

Now we have confirmation.

Last night I mentioned that rumors were circulating that a bike rider had died in Pasadena. This morning, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune confirms that a rider critically injured in a collision with a salmon cyclist has passed away.

The rider, publicly identified only as a 20-year old Pasadena man, was headed west on Mountain Street at Garfield Avenue around 6 pm Saturday when he was hit head-on by a 17-year old cyclist riding against traffic. According to the paper, the victim, who was not wearing a helmet, suffered a severe head injury when he hit his head on the pavement.

He was taken to Pasadena’s Huntington Hospital, where he died Sunday evening.

The other rider was uninjured.

It’s hard to imagine how this collision could have occurred on what appears to be a relatively quiet street. It’s possible that the riders may have been boxed in by passing cars, or both may have swerved in the same direction in a last-second attempt to avoid the collision. It’s also possible that the younger rider may have just rounded the corner from Garfield, not leaving enough time for either to react.

Or one or both riders may have just not been paying attention.

In this case, whether or not the victim was wearing a helmet matters, as this seems to have been exactly the sort of relatively slow-speed collision helmets are that designed to protect against.

However, as Caltech Bike Lab points out, one of the many problems with riding salmon is that it dramatically increases the force of any impact.

It’s simple physics that when two objects traveling in opposite directions collide, their speeds combine to create the force of impact. For instance, if these two riders were both traveling at 10 miles per hour, they would have struck with the same force as hitting a stationary object at 20 mph.

And if they were both riding at 20 mph, they would have hit with a combined force of 40 mph — a speed almost assured to result in serious injury. The fact that only one rider was injured suggests that they may have struck a glancing blow, rather than a full head-on crash.

Riding salmon also reduces reaction times, making a collision that much more likely.

Finally, there is the legal aspect. By riding against traffic, the younger rider was in clear violation of CVC 21650, which requires all vehicles to travel on the right side of the roadway, as well as CVC 21202, which requires bicyclists to ride as close as practicable to the right hand curb.

By riding on the wrong side of the road, the 17-year old cyclist could face serious criminal charges, including a possible homicide charge, for causing the death of the other rider.

As well as a lifetime of living with the fact that his carelessness killed another person.

This is 48th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 22nd in Los Angeles County, which compares with 24 and 23 for all of the last two years, respectively.

And it’s the second cycling death in Pasadena in less than 30 days, following the death of Phillip O’Neill near Caltech last month, which highlights the need for a comprehensive bike plan in the city.

My prayers and deepest sympathy for the victim and his love ones.

Thanks to Pasadena’s Day One for the heads-up.

Update: The victim has been identified as 20-year old Ulises Tamayo of Pasadena.

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

Update: City of Industry cyclist killed in big rig truck collision; 15th L.A. County cycling fatality this year

May 18, 2013 / / 10 comments

Yet another bike rider has died in what’s turning out to be a horrible year for L.A. County cyclists.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports that a bicyclist was killed in a collision with a big rig truck in the City of Industry around 3:05 this afternoon.

The unidentified male victim was reportedly riding on the wrong side of Valley Blvd just east of Hurley Street when he was struck by the truck and pronounced dead at the scene. The driver stopped after the collision and was cooperating with investigators; no other details are available at this time.

If you haven’t gotten the message yet, let this be a reminder to never, ever ride salmon.

Drivers aren’t looking for cyclists coming towards them; even if they see you, they may assume you’re riding with traffic, rather than against it. It also reduces reaction times, while dramatically increasing the impact of a collision.

This is the 27th bicycling fatality in Southern California since the first of this year.

Remarkably, 15 of those collisions — 55% of all bicycling deaths in Southern California this year — have occurred Los Angeles County, which has averaged just under 24 cycling fatalities a year for the past several years.

Maybe it’s just a statistical blip that will average out before the year is over. But this is starting out to be an exceptionally deadly year for local bike riders, and we haven’t even reached the peak summer riding season.

Tthose numbers aren’t statistics, they’re people.

And far too many are dying this year.

My prayers and sympathy for the victim and his family.

Update: The Tribune identifies the victim as 55-year old Jose Munoz of La Puente. 

According to the Diamond Bar-Wlanut Patch, Munoz was riding east in the westbound lane of Valley Blvd when he was hit by a truck pulling out of the Alta Dena Dairy. Under those circumstances, it’s likely the driver would have been looking towards oncoming traffic as he exited the lot, and may not have looked back to his right before pulling out. 

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

Update: PCH claims another life — bike rider killed by Metro bus in Malibu; 2nd rider critically injured in Alhambra

October 13, 2012 / / 52 comments

It’s the fear of countless cyclists on Malibu’s Pacific Coast Highway.

A door opens unexpectedly. A patch of gravel causes a loss of control. A pothole or too-close pass leaves a rider precariously unbalanced.

Followed by a deadly fall in front of unforgiving, high speed traffic.

We may never know why a cyclist fell in front of a Metro bus on PCH today. But the tragic result was entirely predictable.

According to KNBC-4, the 36-year old rider, identified only as a Los Angeles resident of “Latino descent,” was riding on PCH near Puerco Canyon Road at 1:50 pm. She reportedly lost control of her bike and fell into the roadway, where she was struck by an oncoming Metro Bus at 25019 Pacific Coast Highway, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The story does not report which direction she was riding; however, Malibu Patch says southbound PCH was closed for several hours between Puerco Canyon Road and John Tyler Drive, suggesting that the collision occurred on the west side of the highway.

Patch reports that a Sheriff’s spokesman said it’s too early to determine who was at fault. The story also notes that deputies were unsure if she was wearing a helmet; given that the victim was hit by bus, there’s very little chance a helmet would have made any difference in the outcome.

This is the 65th cycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth fatality in the past week. It’s also the 21st bicycling death in Los Angeles County since the beginning of the year, 12 of which were due to traffic collisions, and the second on PCH in the Malibu/Santa Monica area.

My heartfelt prayers and sympathy for the victim and her family. 

Thanks to David Huntsman for the heads-up.

Update: Malibu Patch quotes a Metro spokesman as saying they don’t know if the bus driver was male or female, what the driver’s previous safety record was, or whether there were any passengers on the bus at the time of the collision. Hint to Metro: when you don’t have anything to say, you’re usually better off not saying anything.

The Pepperdine University Graphic identifies the bus line as the 534, which seems to be more than Metro knows.

Update 2: A press release from the Sheriff’s Department confirms the collision occurred on South/Eastbound side of PCH.

Update 3: According to a comment from Alma Valencia, the victim was Marisela Echeveria of Cypress Park.

Truly saddened to read this report. The Los Angeles resident of “Latino decent” was my friend. Her name was Marisela Echeveria a Cypress Park resident enjoying a ride along PCH. She was an Ironman athlete, architect and was truley an angel taken from us much too soon. We are all in shock and pray for strength for the days to come.

Update 4: Many people have expressed grief over Marisela’s tragic death, as well as anger over a comment below urging riders to avoid dangerous roads like PCH. While I strongly disagree with her comments, the writer does have a right to her opinion, and has not crossed the line into personal attacks or blaming the victim; disagree as much as you want, but please keep responses respectful.

The best thing you can do to channel your anger and grief is to take a few moments to participate in the Malibu PCH bike safety study, which will be online through November 12th. By making PCH safer, we can help prevent future fatalities, and bring some good from this horrible tragedy.

Also, consider writing the Governor to express your anger over his two-time veto of the state’s proposed three-foot passing laws. If the bus had been required to stay a minimum of three feet from the cyclist, she might have been able to fall beside, rather than in front, of the bus. And this needless tragedy might never have happened.

Update 5: Finally, some real news, as KCBS-2 reports Echevaria was training for an Ironman triathlon when she was killed on PCH Saturday afternoon. According to the station, she lost control of her bike when she was passed by some trucks and caught her handlebar on a parked car; she then veered into the bus and was dragged underneath.

This may be the first fatality we can lay directly at the feet of Governor Jerry Brown since his most recent veto of the state’s proposed three-foot passing law.

In order for the trucks to have caused Echerveria to lose control, they had to be close enough to either startle her or interfere with the safe operation of her bike — although to be fair, larger trucks should give a hell of a lot more than three feet, due to their massive size.

And the bus driver may or may not have been passing too close, depending on how far she was thrown into the roadway after clipping the parked car.

If there are witnesses who can show the trucks passed too closely to her bike — and it sounds like there may be — the driver(s) can and should be charged with vehicular homicide.

Anyone with information is urged to call the L.A. Sheriff’s Department Malibu/Lost Hills station at 818/878-1808.

Update 6: According to Malibu Patch, the Coroner has ruled the death an accident resulting from multiple traumatic injuries; however, as I understand it, that does not halt the investigation or preclude charges.

Update 7: Echeveria’s death may not have been due to a close pass, and it appears it may not have been her fault, either. 

Video evidence has surfaced that reportedly shows her bike tire getting caught in a seam in the roadway as she attempted to go around some parked cars. More in tonight’s follow-up report.

……..

Clearly, it was a bad day for L.A. County bicyclists, as another rider was critically injured while riding salmon in Alhambra.

According to the Pasadena Star-News, the 44-year old rider, who has not been publicly identified, was riding north on southbound Palm Avenue at Main Street when he was struck by a northbound Mercedes Benz turning left from Raymond onto Main around 12:45 pm.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation; however, riding on the wrong side of the roadway didn’t help.

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

Salmon cyclist killed in early morning Simi Valley collision; possible Riverside bike rider fatally shot

August 11, 2012 / / 6 comments

Just when it looked like we might make it through a single week without another cyclist getting killed — which would have made it the first fatality-free week in the last 11 — comes word that two riders have died in the last two days.

One by truck. One by gun.

………

A 62-year old Simi Valley man died in a Thousand Oaks hospital less than an hour after he was hit by a semi-truck while riding the wrong way on a darkened street.

According to the Ventura County Star, Trinidad Nava was riding south in the north-bound side of First Street at Easy Street in Simi Valley around 4:35 am Friday, when a big rig truck made a right turn out of a driveway and hit Nava head-on; KTVA radio says the truck was leaving a car dealership.

The paper reports he was riding without lights despite the early hour; Nava was declared dead of blunt force trauma at 5:30 am.

The driver, who has not been publicly identified, stayed at the scene and tried to help him.

The Star notes that the crash occurred just blocks from where the Simi Valley City Council recently rejected proposed bike lanes on Los Angeles Avenue at the urging of local business owners; however, even if they had been approved, they would not have made a difference in this case.

What might have helped is better education and outreach.

Many cyclists who learned to ride in Central American countries were taught to ride facing traffic, rather than with traffic; some Americans were taught the same thing, especially those who started riding as children in the 50s and 60s. Yet riding against traffic greatly increases risk to riders by placing them where drivers aren’t looking for them, while reducing reaction times and increasing the force of impact.

At the same time, outreach programs, such as the LACBC’s former City of Lights program, have worked to provide lights to riders who may not understand the need for them or have the money to buy them. I don’t know if such a program exists in Ventura County.

Either way, it’s too late to help Navi.

This is the 45th cycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second in Ventura County, following the death of Guadalupe Cruz in Fillmore this June; Cruz was reportedly riding on the wrong side of the street, as well.

My sympathy and prayers for Navi and his loved ones. Thanks to Danny Gamboa for the heads-up.

………

Riverside police report that a man has died after being found suffering from gunshot wounds on Wednesday; the Southwest Riverside News Network says that he was found next to a bicycle.

Thirty-seven-year old Riverside resident Rene Barrientos Corona was found at Arlington Avenue near Fairhaven Drive in the La Sierra Hills neighborhood when police responded to a report of a man down and bleeding in the street.

Police initially thought he had been hit by a car before medical personnel determined that he had been shot; Corona died at a local hospital the following night.

There’s no indication whether he was riding the bike or walking it at the time of the shooting; it’s possible that the bike wasn’t even his. However, the presence of the bike and the fact that police assumed he’d been hit by a car would suggest it was.

Witnesses said a dark, four-door vehicle with a spoiler on the back sped away from the area where Corona was found. Anyone with information is urged to call Detective Ron Sanfilippo at 951-353-7105 or Detective Rick Cobb at 951-353-7135.

Corona is the third bike rider to be killed by gunfire in Southern California this year, compared to nine last year.

My prayers for Corona and his family.

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

Update — salmon San Diego cyclist killed after being hit by multiple vehicles

March 22, 2012 / / 10 comments

You knew it couldn’t last.

After going the first three weeks of March without a single SoCal cycling fatality, San Diego’s KFMB-8 reports that a bicyclist has been killed this morning.

The rider, identified only as a white male, was traveling against traffic on eastbound Balboa Avenue at the I-805 onramp shortly after 7 am when he was hit by a Ford Expedition, followed by two other vehicles.

While facing traffic may seem safer to some people, it dramatically reduces reaction times while increasing the force of impact in any collision. Despite the presence of either a bike lane or painted shoulder on Balboa, drivers would have had no way of anticipating a cyclist riding the wrong way on the roadway, with virtually no time to react before hitting the rider.

This is the 10th cycling fatality in Southern California this year and the 2nd in San Diego, following a disastrous year in which 12 riders were killed in San Diego County in 2011 — nearly twice the county’s six-year average of 6.8 cycling deaths per year.

Update: The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the first driver to hit the victim said she had the sun in her eyes as she entered the roadway, and never saw the rider; she pulled over after feeling the impact. The paper also notes that the victim was killed on impact and wasn’t wearing a helmet.

Note to Union-Tribune — bike helmets are designed to offer protection at impact speeds up to just 12.5 mph; at speeds significantly above that, it doesn’t really matter whether the rider is wearing a helmet or a propeller beanie. Not to mention the rider was hit three separate times, by three separate vehicles; if you can find a helmet that would make a damn bit of difference under those circumstances, let us all know so we can buy one.

Update 2: The Union-Tribune identifies the victim as 29-year old David Ortiz of Pacific Beach; thanks to billsd for the link.

Comments below suggest that the police got it wrong, pointing out that Ortiz would have been riding east from Pacific Beach to his work, rather than the other way around — which means he would have been on the right side of the road riding with traffic. 

And that would make it a completely different matter; instead of the rider being at fault, the first driver who hit him should bear responsibility for breaking the basic speed law by driving too fast for conditions; if she couldn’t see, she should have slowed down until she could.

Update 3: Bike San Diego offers a good follow-up on this case, agreeing with the commenters that Ortiz had been riding with traffic, rather than against it. And suggesting that this may be yet another case of San Diego police jumping to a false conclusion.

My prayers and sympathy for David Ortiz and his family and loved ones.

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