Tag Archive for San Diego

San Diego traffic deaths climb 10 years after Vision Zero, rigid bollards pose risk to bikes, and who we share the road with

November 13, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 47 days until LA fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Meanwhile, San Diego’s Vision Zero program is working about as well as most, including here in Los Angeles, as a new report says pedestrian and bicycling deaths have continued to climb in the ten years since the program was adopted.

The difference is that San Diego actually took major steps to improve safety, building new bike lanes and pedestrian improvements throughout the city. Although it’s arguably — and demonstrably — not enough.

But whether cities can ever do enough to compensate for bigger, faster vehicles and drivers distracted by smartphones and dashboard video screens is highly debatable.

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A new German study confirmed the complaints of some San Diego bicyclists who’ve argued that rigid bike lane bollards pose a high risk for bicyclists, and can result in serious injuries to riders who hit them.

The authors conducted an experiment to test the risks to riders.

To assess the risk posed to cyclists by rigid bollards, DEKRA conducted two identical collision tests at its Crash Test Center in Neumünster, Germany, with a three-wheeled e-cargo bike driven at a speed of 25 km/h (about 15-16 mph), one against a flexible post and the other against a rigid one.

“In the test against the rigid post, there was a strong deceleration [slowing down] that threw the dummy from the saddle towards the handlebars. The bollard buckled and then acted as a ramp. The rear of the bike was lifted up, throwing the dummy off and causing the bike to tip over.”

“In a real-life situation, the person riding the bike would have suffered serious injuries,” Egelhaaf said.

On the other hand, flexible plastic bollards — like the car-tickler bendie posts preferred by LADOT — allowed riders to simply roll over them, with little or no risk of serious injuries.

But flexible bollards also do nothing to keep inattentive or uncaring drivers out of the bike lanes, and are often flattened within weeks, if not days, of their installation.

So the question becomes whether the risk of falls outweighs the risk posed by motorists and their big, dangerous machines.

I don’t know how to answer that.

The only way to get a actual answer would be to try a real world test on comparable roadways, and measure the rate of injuries on both after six months and a year.

And to the best of my knowledge, no one has done that. Or plans to.

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This is who we share the road with.

A Santa Monica collision resulted in unexpected tragedy after a pickup driver collided with a motorcyclist on the 1400 block of Cloverfield Blvd, near the Specialized bike shop at Cloverfield and Santa Monica.

The motorcyclist only suffered minor injuries. But as he walked back to the truck to talk with the driver, he heard a shot ring out as the driver pulled out a gun and committed suicide, for reasons known only to himself.

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This is who we share the road with, part two

A cop found a Lubbock, Texas man dead from complications of diabetes, which apparently resulted from injuries he suffered in an earlier road rage crash.

Witnesses said a driver seemed to intentionally crash into the victim’s motorcycle, after the motorbike rider waved a gun as the two men argued moments before the crash.

The driver claimed he accidentally hit the motorcycle while attempting to flee from the gunman — then he did flee immediately after the crash, turning a road rage incident into a fatal hit-and-run.

Or maybe even a homicide.

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No bias here.

A panel of sadly misinformed Aussie broadcasters called for banning all bicyclists from the roads, especially the ones who “wear Lycra and have large guts,” while calling a three-wheeled recumbent bike a child’s toy tricycle.

All because video showed a driver correctly slow down behind the recumbent rider to wait for a safe opportunity to pass, before a truck driver slammed on his brakes to avoid running up the driver’s ass, and nearly hit an oncoming car headed in the other direction.

And somehow, they managed to conclude this was all the bike rider’s fault.

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Drivers often act like we’re invisible.

Sometimes, it may actually be true.

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Maybe Santa will bring me the new Tern do-it-all e-cargo bike for Christmas.

It could happen, right?

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It’s now 329 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 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.   

No bias here, either. A Boston bike commuter says the city’s new bike lanes are a metaphor for the Democratic Party, since they were built to appease a “small, highly vocal minority,” a “depressing number” of whom consider the resulting traffic congestion a benefit, not a trade-off. Tell us you don’t understand traffic calming without saying it. 

If you’re going to hate on bicycles, might as well do it poetically, as a British letter writer pens an ode to the local city council’s “absurd” and “crazy” “cycle crusade.”

Now we’re being attacked by elderly Florida dog walkers and British people on e-scooters.

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

A Long Beach bike rider learned the hard way that when you’re carrying a bag of meth on your bike, don’t ride salmon. And don’t lie to the cops about having a gun, for chrissakes. 

Police in Brighton, England are investigating after a teenaged ebike rider crashed into a 75-year old woman, who had to be hospitalized.

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Local  

Lucky us. Even more bicyclists get to participate in Waymo’s beta test, willingly or not, as the autonomous cab company expands into more Los Angeles neighborhoods, and opens up to all users.

WorldTour cyclist Neilson Powless and US crit champ Coryn Labecki led a 25-mile bike ride through the streets of Pasadena, before returning to a new private school to help the students build bicycles for underprivileged youth.

They get it. A Pasadena study session will consider how to revitalize North Lake Ave and turn it into a Complete Street to make it more inviting to bike riders and pedestrians, as it currently “suffers from excessive space allocated to cars.”

Manhattan Beach students will now be required to display a sticker saying they’ve taken an approved ebike safety course if they want to park them on campus.

Streetsblog hosts an open thread on Saturday’s relatively sparsely attended Beach Streets open streets event in North Long Beach, including Joe Linton’s always great photos.

 

State

Costa Mesa will host Micromobility America, a trade show for ebike and e-scooter makers, and others in the micromobility industry, this Thursday and Friday.

The Guardian examines the backlash to the closing of San Francisco’s Great Highway, as if it hadn’t just been approved by a majority of the city’s voters.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a 32-year old woman was killed when she was stuck by a driver while trying to ride across the street; naturally, the CHP blamed the victim for riding directly into the car’s path, without mentioning whether the driver may have been speeding or gone through a traffic signal.

 

National

Momentum writes in praise of community bike co-ops.

Bicycling considers how to say goodbye to the rider you used to be. A lesson I’ve struggled to learn myself. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.

National Geographic — yes, it’s still a thing — picks the best ebikes to “make cycling adventures a breeze,” while the National Council on Aging selects the best ebikes for old farts older Americans.

Bike Portland says last week’s election bodes well for bicycling in the city.

Colorado county commissioners nixed a hotly debated proposal for a mountain bike park, although the decision left developers demoralized.

NBA star Klay Thompson is one of us, riding his bike to relax between games after signing with the Dallas Mavericks.

A YouTuber rides the rough streets of Dallas to confirm whether it’s really the country’s most unbikeable city.

That’s more like it. An Illinois driver faces up to 61 years in prison for the drugged-driving crash that killed a man riding a bicycle, after he was convicted on four counts of aggravated DUI causing death and one count of reckless homicide.

A Vermont police officer was placed on administrative leave after killing a 38-year old man who was pulling a bike trailer behind his bicycle; officials unofficially exonerated the driver of the police cruiser by insisting it was rainy and dark, and the street was wet. Which is usually what happens when it rains.

Kindhearted McDonalds coworkers bought a new bicycle for a Cambridge, Massachusetts man after his bike was stolen.

New York completed the final phase of a Vision Zero makeover of the city’s former “Boulevard of Death,” which has already resulted in a dramatic reduction in deaths and serious injuries for all road users, while increasing bike use up to 450%.

Prosecutors in New Jersey are headed to the grand jury to seek a formal indictment of 43-year old Sean Higgins, accused in the drunken, high-speed crash that killed the hockey playing Gaudreau brothers as they rode their bikes on the shoulder of a New Jersey highway the night before their sister’s wedding.

Once again, someone riding a bicycle fell off a Florida drawbridge, when a 72-year old man fell after holding on for dear life after the bridge opened as he was riding across; fortunately, the victim’s injuries weren’t life threatening.

 

International

Canadian Cycling Magazine looks at city bicycling rules that need to be changed.

The BBC takes a look at bike riders who are taking things into their own hands, and tracking down their own stolen bicycles when the cops won’t. Speaking of which, Amazon has Air Tags on sale for just $19, or $70 for four. 

Life is cheap in Wales, where an 84-year old driver walked without a single day behind bars for killing a bike rider after claiming he just couldn’t see the victim, he was apparently spared jail time by virtue of being old. And once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive, if you can’t even see a grown man on a bicycle. 

An English police department is employing “scarecrow” bikes to frighten off bike thieves.

A British doctor suggests wearing a hot and slightly cumbersome face mask that may take some getting used to when you ride a bike on city streets.

Add riding a bike through the streets of Istanbul to your bicycle bucket list. Singing “Istanbul (not Constantinople)” while you ride is optional.

An American experiences “dirt, sweat and philosophical enlightenment” while gravel biking across Morocco.

Streetsblog considers what the US can learn from Africa’s bike mayor, asking what we can “learn from developing countries where car dependency hasn’t yet taken root.”

The New York Times looks at the thinking behind the massive five-hour bike ride that brought tens of thousands of Chinese people out on a search for dumplings, which became so popular the government shut it down. Cycling Weekly says with enough belief, we could all have our own viral Chinese dumpling ride.

Cycling Up To Date examines the ten biggest scandals in cycling history, culminating with our old doper buddy Lance.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist looks back to Connie Carpenter’s — now Connie Carpenter-Phinney — win in the first women’s Olympic road cycling race at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, 40 years before the next American woman would take gold at this year’s Paris Olympics.

 

Finally…

Now you can crash your bike without ever leaving your living room. Even ungulates are breaking into bike shops these days.

And you really can carry a sofa on a bicycle. Or what looks like a love seat, anyway.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

A $7 million SD safety fail, U-T sharrows fail, and taking a pass on what passes for record CA traffic safety investment

October 3, 2024 / / No comments
Just 88 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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L’Shana Tova to everyone celebrating the new year today!

And apropos of nothing, I’m happy to report I wrote today’s entire post wearing a T-shirt with a bear riding a bicycle, as bears are wont to do. 

Just saying.

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Call it a $7 million fail — one that ultimately cost the life of a San Diego bike rider.

That’s the amount the city paid out to the family of Marc Woolf, who died 17 months after he was struck by a pair of drivers and paralyzed from the next down, dying of sepsis 17 months later.

Woolf was on his way home from his job at the San Diego zoo in May, 2021 when a driver coming out of a blind driveway backed into him, knocking him onto the other side of the street, where he was hit again by second driver.

But instead of blaming the drivers, Woolf’s legal team accused the city of creating and maintaining poor road conditions.

According to San Diego CBS8, those conditions included —

  • Restricted site lines and distances caused by physical conditions
  • Insufficient red curb prohibiting parked cars
  • Overgrown vegetation
  • Confusing and misleading shared lane striping
  • An improperly maintained light fixture which was not functioning on the night of the incident

The station reports the city finally extended the red curb to improve sightlines along the corridor in response to the crash.

As usual, only acting after it was too late.

Now Wolff’s family is $7 million richer, and the city’s taxpayers are $7 million poorer.

But as his daughter notes, no amount of money can bring Wolff back, or ease the pain the new grandfather suffered for so many months.

Meanwhile, the Union-Tribune blamed sharrows in general for the crash.

The case highlights the potential dangers of “sharrows,” marked bike routes that require cars and bicycles to share portions of roadway instead of giving cyclists areas reserved only for them.

I’m no fan of sharrows, which studies have shown to be worse than nothing when it comes to protecting the safety of bike riders.

But that’s a discussion for another day.

The paper was clearly mistaken, at best, in blaming any and all sharrows for this particular crash, rather than the poorly designed and implemented sharrows on this one particular street.

I’ve heard that some San Diego bicyclists have called on the paper for a retraction.

And they may have a point this time.

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California is making a record investment in traffic safety and enforcement as traffic deaths continue to rise, according to the Governor’s office.

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) is awarding a record $149 million in federal funding for 497 grants that expand safe biking and walking options and provide critical education and enforcement programs that will make roads safer throughout the state. This is the third consecutive year of historic funding, exceeding last year’s amount by $21 million.

Yet that record spending to “expand safe biking and walking options” includes just $13 million for bicycle and pedestrian safety programs, up a modest 12% from the previous grant cycle.

Even though bicyclists and pedestrians account for most, if not all, of the recent increase in traffic deaths.

Meanwhile, a whopping $51 million will go to law enforcement agencies to conduct what’s described as “equitable enforcement targeting the most dangerous driving behaviors such as speeding, distracted and impaired driving, as well as support education programs focused on bicycle and pedestrian safety.”

In other words, more daylong — or usually, just a few hours — enforcement actions targeting violations that could put bicyclists and pedestrians at risk, regardless of who commits them.

Which, to the best of my knowledge, hasn’t been proven to do a damn bit of good reducing deaths or serious injuries among either group.

So if that’s what passes for a record investment, I’ll pass.

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Streets For All politely reminds Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass that Measure HLA applies to Metro projects in the City of Los Angeles, too.

Never mind that the city’s barely competent and very conservative City Attorney’s Office continues to drag its feet on crafting guidance for city departments regarding the measure, nearly seven months after it went into effect after passing overwhelmingly.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that new bike lane mileage in Los Angeles fell to a five-year low for the most recent fiscal year, adding up to a massively underwhelming 22.5 lane-miles of new and improved bike facilities.

And remember, lane-miles means they count each side of the road separately, so we’re only talking a measly 11.25 miles of actual street.

Then there’s this.

While there is some year-to-year variation, and some lag time between project planning getting underway and on the ground upgrades, the first full fiscal year does not look like a promising start for Mayor Karen Bass. Bass has prioritized critical housing issues and not paid much attention to safer multimodal streets – at least not yet. FY2024 did see Mayor Karen Bass appoint Laura Rubio-Cornejo to head the city Transportation Department (LADOT). Rubio-Cornejo replaced interim GM Connie Llanos last September.

No shit.

If anyone has heard Bass even mention safer and/or multimodal streets, let me know. Because I sure as hell haven’t heard it.

Then again, the city’s freeze on resurfacing projects to avoid implementing HLA hasn’t helped.

And neither has Bass’ continued failure to meet with us.

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Momentum wants to see your pics of bike lane fails, of which we should have more than a few.

https://twitter.com/MomentumMag/status/1841505396596342989

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Presenting the cutest BMX balance bike stunt video you’ll see all day.

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It’s now 288 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And an even 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, apparently tired of waiting, San Francisco will consider a proposal for their own yet-to-be defined ebike rebate program.

That deafening silence you hear is Los Angeles not considering one.

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

Apparently, elected office provides no protection from dangerous drivers, as an Ottawa, Canada city counselor captures a way-too-close punishment pass on his bike cam while riding past several parked cars.

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

Maybe something was lost in translation, as an Ottawa letter writer complains about the incivility of local bicyclists who “love listening to the music of the folk group With No Headphones,” while riding their bikes without a “ten dollar doorbell.”

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Local  

Looks like they slipped one past us this time, as a planned two-day closure last week for repairs on the Ballona Creek Bike Path only took one day, with the path reopening before some of us (i.e. me) knew it wasn’t.

Start times for the Long Beach Marathon have been moved up due to a high heat warning, with the bike tour now scheduled to start the same time as the runners at 5:30 am.

Speaking of Streets For All, the Los Angeles-area transportation PAC is hosting a fundraiser in Franklin Hills this Sunday afternoon.

 

State

The CHP has received a $1.55 million federal grant for year-long initiative focusing on “educating the public and enforcing traffic safety laws for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.” Maybe they could spend some of the money on educating their patrol officers a little better on bike law and how to investigate collisions involving bicyclists. 

San Diego was dubbed the greenest city in the US for the third year in a row; needless to say, Los Angeles wasn’t, coming in 18th.

San Diego pediatrician Dr. Mike Nelson dropped by a Claremont Mesa fire station to thank the first responders who saved his life when he crashed his bicycle on the way to an appointment a couple months back.

A San Francisco neighborhood is tearing itself apart fighting over a proposal to permanently close a highway to motor vehicles, even though it’s eroding into the ocean anyway.

 

National

Momentum offers ten “amazing coastal cities” in the US for bicycling; Santa Barbara is #9 on the list, while Huntington Beach is #2 — even though three people lost their lives riding in the city in just the last 12 months.

Bicyclists in the Pacific Northwest are challenging online marketplaces like OfferUp to do more to fight the reselling of stolen bikes on their platforms.

An editorial from a local Boston paper says bicycling isn’t safe in the city. Then again, the same could be said in virtually any city in the US. Los Angeles included. 

A proposed Pennsylvania law could authorize parking-protected bicycle lanes for the first time in the state.

Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport is encouraging travelers to skip the taxi and ride their bikes to the airport. Maybe LAX should be taking notes.

More proof bikes make the best emergency vehicles, as a North Carolina family grabbed their chainsaws and hopped on their bicycles to rescue the family’s 87-year old matriarch when they couldn’t contact her after Hurricane Helene.

 

International

Bike Radar considers why mixed-terrain ultra-distance cycling events are rising in popularity.

Residents of a British Columbia city aren’t sold on plans for a new bike path if it means chopping down a tree.

London bicyclists will soon be shuttled through a new motor vehicle-only tunnel under the Thames on special double-decker buses.

The rich get richer, as London bicyclists will soon get a £4 million — $5.3 million — bike route through the heart of the city.

There won’t be any more changes to the UK’s infamous “optical illusion” bike lane, even though it’s led to more than 100 trip and fall injuries. Sounds like they need better injury attorneys over there. 

 

Competitive Cycling

That’s Sir Mark Cavendish to you, as the Manx Missile gets knighted at Windsor Castle. Unless you’d rather call him the new High Performance Ambassador for Aston Martin.

Cyclinguptodate compares UCI to the Mafia for the way they managed the recent Zurich world championships, arguing that the organization implements rules, then neither complies with or implements them.

Rouleur considers the recent rise of WorldTour mega-contracts.

 

Finally…

Maybe your new wireless shifters can be hack-proof, after all. Now you, too, can trade your ten gallon hat for a helmet and bike through LBJ’s Texas ranch.

And maybe you were a bicycling British soldier in a past life, bad teeth be damned.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

San Diego TV station almost gets why no one’s using bike lane, and man turns himself in for San Marcos hit-and-run

September 25, 2024 / / No comments
Just 96 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Let me get this straight.

San Diego’s CBS-8 revisited the city’s new “protected” bike lanes on busy Convoy Street to see how they’re fairing, several weeks after they were opened.

What they found were white car-tickler plastic posts that were already broken and bent, commercial trucks parked in the bike lanes, and shopping carts and other debris blocking them.

Then they wondered why they only saw five people using them in the two midday, mid-week hours they happened to be watching.

Of course, they also heard the usual complaints from drivers who couldn’t figure out the new streetscape, or where they could possibly park if they can’t store their cars on the street directly in front of their destination.

Never mind that the bike lanes were built in anticipation of new apartment buildings currently under construction, which will add hundreds of housing units and the people who will live in them, and who will have to get around somehow.

Preferably not by driving.

Hence the bike lanes.

But it’s true that few people will bother to use them if they’re not safe, or safely rideable. Which is pretty much what the station saw.

Now maybe they can come back at rush hour or on the weekend, after they’re cleaned up and the trucks are gone.

Then they could do a far better story about why flimsy plastic bollards don’t protect anyone.

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A 23-year old San Marcos man was arrested after turning himself into sheriff’s deputies for last week’s hit-and-run that left a teenage boy with serious injuries.

Never mind that deputies had already found his massive 2021 GMC Sierra pickup, which matched the debris found following the crash — and showed signs he had attempted to conceal the damage.

Not to mention that the nearly one-week delay in turning himself in gave him plenty of time to sober up after hitting the boy’s ebike.

If he’d been under the influence at the time of the crash, of course.

The driver, Alan Edmundo Reyes, is being held on $80,000 bond on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and reckless driving resulting in injury.

He’s likely looking at a maximum of 30 months behind bars for the two counts, though that will probably be bargained down to a slap on the wrist if he accepts a plea.

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Unlike the foot-dragging we’ve seen from the City of Los Angeles, LA County passed a new Measure HLA-type law to speed up building the county bike plan as streets get resurfaced.

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If you think you’re being squeezed out on the streets, you’re probably right.

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Just in case you still wonder why traffic deaths for people outside of motor vehicles keep going up.

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“Chim, chimney, chim, chimney, chim, chim, cher-ee…”

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1838643621609804108

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It’s now 280 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 39 full 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.

A Conservative member of the British Parliament proposes re-introducing legislation to let bicyclists know they’re not above the law, and let the “small minority” of dangerous bike riders know there are responsibilities they can be prosecuted for. At least he recognizes that it’s just a few people who need to be held accountable.

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Local  

The candidates for West Hollywood City Council sound off about e-scooters and protected bike lanes, particularly the proposal for a lane reduction and removing parking on Fountain to install them. And not everyone is in favor.

Santa Monica’s MANGo bikeway is now officially open.

 

State

A California Streetsblog board member pledges to go a week without driving, and tell us all about it. Just wait until she learns some people do that every day. 

We’re still waiting for Gavin Newsom to sign SB 961, which would require all passenger vehicles to give an audible warning if the drivers go more than 10 mph over the speed limit. Or not.

Calbike is celebrating its 30th birthday, and inviting you to become a dues paying member.

A 28-year old Chula Vista woman has made a miraculous recovery from a near fatal blood clot, suffered days after she got stitches when she crashed her ebike.

San Francisco unveils a plan for a new curbside bike lane on Valencia Street, replacing the current contentious centerline bike lane, although the new parking protected bike lane has to swerve around existing parklets.

The Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition says the city’s new Biking and Rolling Plan must apply to the entire city, and not carve out Chinatown for exemptions.

 

National

A Tucson, Arizona TV station says the return of the annual El Tour De Tucson means big business for local bike shops. Then again, bike events usually mean big business for just about everyone. 

An Aspen, Colorado writer takes obvious pride in not falling for the ebike “hype,” saying there’s nothing cool about them and comparing ebikes to…wait for it…pickleball.

A Colorado woman wonders about a strange “very short” mile-long bike lane. Even if that’s a lot longer than a lot of the bike lanes here in Los Angeles, and just as disconnected.

Police in Oklahoma City busted two men for a twenty grand bike heist, and are looking for another man who’s still on the lam.

The New York Times talks with the city’s Blue Angels who found a way to game the bikeshare system to score thousands of dollars a month.

 

International

It turns out that Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Jackman, Pink, Sheryl Crow, Reggie Miller, Rush drummer Neil Peart, Zac Efron, J-Lo and Arnold are all one of us, too.

The co-founder of All Bodies on Bikes and co-host of the All Bodies on Bikes podcast shares her non-racing bike heroes, including a Paralympian physical therapist and the founder of Black Girl Joy Ride.

Momentum examines Canada’s top new cities for urban bicycling, starting with the top urban cycling city on the prairie.

The CBC fact checks Ontario Premier Doug Ford recent comments opposing bike lanes, including the common myth that they slow emergency vehicles. Yes, he’s the brother of notorious crack-smoking, bike-hating former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.

London is seizing ebikes illegally modified to exceed speed limitations, with most belonging to delivery riders who use them for their work.

Unsurprisingly, Sheffield, England’s new Dutch-style bikeways and roundabouts are drawing mixed reviews, largely depending on whether the reviewer bikes or drives.

A new study from Lyon, France shows that allowing bike riders to travel through red lights could improve traffic efficiency.

A Manilla bicycling brigade is fighting to cut the Philippine city’s endless traffic and pollution.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo looks forward to this weekend’s men’s road world championships, framing it as Tadej Pogačar versus the world, while Cyclist looks at the favorites for the women’s road worlds.

Velo also recaps last weekend’s men’s and women’s time trial worlds.

Thrice Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar admits he used to shit his pants after every race, the result of too many energy gels and drinks.

 

Finally…

You can’t sail a modern America’s Cup boat anymore without us. Now you, too, can bike in the glowing footsteps of Oppenheimer and Teller.

And it’s not every day you see a pedaling cow.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

70-year old man riding bicycle killed by 92-year old driver in San Diego collision, 10th San Diego County bike death this year

September 21, 2024 / / Comments Off on 70-year old man riding bicycle killed by 92-year old driver in San Diego collision, 10th San Diego County bike death this year

Enough, already.

For the third time in just the last five days, someone has been killed riding a bicycle in Southern California.

And this time, it’s clear there was nothing victim could have done to avoid it.

San Diego’s Fox 5 is reporting that a 70-year old man was killed when he was left-crossed by a 92-year old driver in the city’s Roseville/Fleet Ridge neighborhood Saturday afternoon.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding east on Evergreen Street at Cañon Street around 2:38 pm, when the woman turned left into his path. He hit her right rear door, and died after being taken to a local hospital.

The driver remained at the scene and was not injured.

A crash like this should raise the issue of how old is too old to drive. But sadly, it probably won’t.

Anyone with more information is urged to call the San Diego Police Department at 888/580-8477.

This is at least the 39th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth that I’m aware of in San Diego County.

That’s more than one every month.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

“Silent majority” claimed to oppose WeHo’s planned Fountain Ave bike lanes, and San Diego makes street safety top priority

September 17, 2024 / / One comment
Just 105 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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No bias here.

WeHo Online’s Steve Martin — no, not the comedian — continues his campaign against the planned safety improvements on Fountain Ave through West Hollywood, insisting there is a “silent majority” rising up in opposition to the plan, despite an informal online survey showing it was supported by two-thirds of respondents.

Then again, he complains that people from outside the city were allowed to respond to it, as if only people who live on Fountain Ave ever use the street.

He also takes issue with a perceive lack of outreach, even though those of us who were paying attention were aware of the plan to remove traffic lanes and street parking to widen sidewalks and add protected bike lanes at least two years ago. As were all those people who took the time to respond to that online survey he disparages.

But they don’t count, evidently.

Then there’s his complaint that Bike LA, formerly the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, will assist with outreach to prepare residents for the changes, calling them “hardly an unbiased party.” And adding that the group will work in conjunction with Streets For All, and “will be able to skewer whatever conversations take place.”

As if merely explaining a project that has already been approved by the city council requires any actual “skewering.”

The city council was scheduled to vote last night to accept a $5 million grant from the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB — and yes, he even gets that name wrong in his sputtering anger — to help pay for the life-saving changes on Fountain.

Let’s hope they had the sense to say yes. And that the approval will finally put an end to this nonsense.

But I wouldn’t count on it.

Graphic for a virtual workshop to discuss plans for Fountain Ave from October, 2022.

 

………

That’s more like it.

The San Diego City Council passed a resolution making street safety the city’s highest transportation priority. Which means it will finally outweigh other considerations, such as street parking and level of service.

Or should, anyway.

Which would no doubt cause apoplexy to the afore-mentioned “silent majority” in West Hollywood. Not to mention in here Los Angeles, where the ability to go “zoom zoom” to your heart’s content is taken as a God-given right, consequences be damned.

Except for all those people who voted for Measure HLA by a similar — wait for it — two-thirds margin, suggesting that maybe, just maybe, that online survey wasn’t so wrong after all.

………

Los Angeles opened a nearly five-mile segment of a bike path paralleling San Fernando Road in the east San Fernando Valley.

The new segment combines with an existing pathway to provide nearly ten miles of continuous off-street riding from the Burbank Airport to Sylmar.

………

It’s now 271 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 39 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

Local  

Streetsblog offers an open thread and photos from Sunday’s Lincoln Heights CicLAmini.

Los Angeles Magazine says Venice’s “Bike Whisperer” is just one of the many Los Angeles street vendors benefitting from the city’s new rules.

 

State

Congratulations to Streetsblog California on their 10th anniversary.

A pilot project will allow bikes on seven miles of trails on Marin’s Mount Tamalpais, regarded as the birthplace of mountain biking, after being banned for four decades.

The steady drumbeat of sad news from Northern California continues, where a 53-year old Ukiah man was killed when he hit something on the trail he was riding and was thrown from his ebike, striking his head; police say he was wearing a helmet, but didn’t have it secured properly.

 

National

Good question. Velo says that good bike parking is inexpensive, easy to implement and encourages more bicycling, so why is it so hard to find?

Rivendell Bicycle Works founder and bicycle designer Grant Petersen celebrates the joys of riding slowly and leaving your spandex at home.

It’s been seven years since someone shot Colorado mountain biker Tim Watkins, leaving his body next to the trail he was riding near the town of Monument, and police still haven’t found his killer or figured out why he was shot.

Safety efforts in Chicago are paying off, as the city has seen just one bicycling death this year — which advocates correctly note is still one too many.

Vermont opened a new 39-mile adaptive trail offering 6,000 feet of vertical gain and loss, the first leg of a planned 485-mile mountain bike trail stretching from Massachusetts to the Canadian border.

New York’s Washington Bridge will get a new bus lane and two-way protected bike lane connecting Upper Manhattan to the Bronx over the Harlem River.

Miami motorcyclist Kadel Piedrahita was found guilty of shooting and killing Alex Palencia in 2019 as Palencia rode in a peloton with several other bicyclists; prosecutors argued that the shooting stemmed from a feud that had developed days earlier.

 

International

British active transportation nonprofit Sustrans called for an end to bicycling inequality, after a recent report found that 38 percent of low income or unemployed UK residents want to ride bikes, but are priced out by high costs and a lack of discount offers. Even though you can buy a decent used bike for around a hundred bucks on ether side of the Atlantic.

The London Evening Standard recommends the best pedal systems for roadies.

British bicyclists raised the equivalent of more than $264,000 with a 390-mile ride from Paris to Suffolk in honor of the 18 members of an English rugby team killed in a plane crash outside Paris 50 years ago.

 

Competitive Cycling

The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will conflict with the final week of the Tour de France, forcing the world’s premier stage race to move from its traditional July date, or making the sport’s top riders choose between the two.

 

Finally…

If you were planning to ride London’s biggest annual charity bile ride next year, your 2025 calendar just opened up. When you’re carrying a baggie of coke on your bike, put a damn light on it, already.

And that feeling when you catch bicycle while magnet fishing.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

15-year old Monterey Park girl found safe, context-free rise in ebike injuries, and elderly man gravely injured in Mira Mesa

July 24, 2024 / / One comment
Just 160 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Photo from Monterey Park Police Dept. 

………

She’s safe.

KABC-7 reports that Alison Jillian Chao, the 15-year old Monterey Park girl who disappeared on a bike ride last week, was found safe outside their studio in Glendale yesterday morning.

Chao was reportedly recognized by someone who followed her in their car and notified police.

Her aunt says she believes the girl ran away because she didn’t want to live with her mother, who was granted full custody of her on a temporary basis.

One more example of why the courts need to give more consideration to the desires of kids in custody cases.

But the important thing is she’s safe. The rest is details.

………

Researchers are reporting a “remarkable” rise in ebike and e-scooter injuries.

A new study from UC San Francisco shows ebike injuries in the US have doubled each year for the last six years, rising from 750 in 2017 to 23,500 in 2022, while e-scooter owies have climbed an average of 45%, from 8,500 to 56,800 over the same period.

Although ebike injuries still represent less than 2% of the roughly 2.5 million injuries suffered by riders of more traditional bicycles.

And we have to look at that nine-fold rise in electric micromobility injuries in the context of the 50-fold jump in micromobility usage over the past ten years.

It’s also worth noting that the risk of death in comparison to injuries is just one-fifth of one per cent or less for any form of micromobility, ranging from <0.1% for ebikes and traditional scooters to 0.1% for regular bicycles and 0.2% for e-scooters.

Which appears to be a hell of a lot less than we’re usually led to believe.

The researchers also note a lack of helmets among injured riders, as well as drinking and drug use.

“Our findings stress a concerning trend: helmet usage is noticeably lower among electric vehicle users, and risky behaviors, such as riding under the influence, are more prevalent,” said study co-first author Kevin Li.

Never mind that they conflate rental ebikes and e-scooters with devices that are owned by their riders.

Which matters because renting a bicycle or scooter is often a spur of the moment decision. People who have been drinking or using drugs may choose to ride one instead of risking a DUI, and someone with lowered inhibitions may be more likely to ride one on impulse.

It’s also worth noting that less than 10% of e-scooter users were under the influence, dropping to 7% for ebike riders, and just 4% for riders of more traditional bicycles.

Which means that well over 90% of all users were sober a judge. Depending on the judge, of course.

And few people are likely to carry a helmet with them wherever they go, especially if they aren’t planning in advance to ride a bike or scooter, electric or otherwise.

It also appear the researchers conflated relatively low-speed ped-assist bikes with higher-speed throttle-controlled bicycles, which are better classified as lower-powered electric motorcycles.

As for the rapid jump in electric bike and scooter injuries, such stats are absolutely meaningless when not considered in context with the rapid rise in ebike and e-scooter usage.

Without that comparison, we have no way of knowing if the rate and severity of injuries are climbing relative to electric bike and scooter use, or if one is increasing faster than the other.

What’s needed is a side-by-side comparison of annual bicycle, ebike and e-scooter injuries relative to usage for each. Unless and until we have that, studies like this are interesting, but relatively meaningless.

Meanwhile, if you want to read a really badly reported synopsis of a synopsis of the study, you could do a lot worse than this story in the New York Post.

Like maybe this story in The Hill, which somehow blames the increase in ebike injuries on risky behavior and urban design — which may have been inferred, but neither of which were directly implicated in the study.

………

More bad news from San Diego, where a 74-year old man was gravely injured in a solo bike crash.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, lost control of his bike and hit a curb while riding in the 10700 block of Camino Santa Fe in Mira Mesa, suffering life-threatening injuries including a brain bleed, broken collarbone and several fractured ribs.

Let’s all hope and pray he pulls through.

………

It’s now 216 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full 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.

A Florida jogger faces a battery charge for hitting a woman in the face with a bottle and knocking her off her bicycle, yelling that she had to share the road, even though she was on a bike path where pedestrians aren’t allowed. Or joggers.

No bias here. Writing for the London Telegraph, the TV editor for the Independent newspaper says she’s a regular bike commuter, but she’s “sick of reckless cyclists ruining it for everyone,” while somehow assuming all those Lycra-clad louts are blowing through red lights at a remarkable 40 mph — double the speed limit, and far beyond the capacity of just about everyone without a motor. But still lower than the 52 mph cited in the headline.

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

Police dashcam and bodycam images captures video of a man on a bicycle evading cops on a chase through the city back in May, after attacking someone with a machete.

………

Local 

To paraphrase Sunset Boulevard, the new Hollywood Blvd bike lanes are ready for their closeup, Mr. DeMille. And from what I’ve seen going by on the bus, they look marvelous.

https://twitter.com/LADOTofficial/status/1815507535148781864

 

State

Calbike accuses Caltrans of contributing to incomplete streets for bicyclists and pedestrians in Orange County by ignoring their own rules on Beach Blvd.

Yes, please. Dozens of Orange County drivers were ticketed for various offenses in a traffic crackdown over the weekend, including having overly loud exhaust systems. Now do Hollywood, where illegal decibel-shattering cars and motorcycles roar through the streets all day and night.

San Diego’s sparkling new fully separated Pershing Bikeway will have a partial opening this weekend, with connecting bike lanes coming online in the next few weeks.

San Diego bicyclists can use the Bike Lane Uprising app to document drivers parking in them.

SFGate says a quiet movement is growing in San Francisco, as more people trade the family car for e-cargo bikes, although residents are divided over the city’s Slow Streets program.

 

National

Americans set a new record for bikeshare and e-scooter rentals last year, topping the previous high of 147 million trips set in 2019 by a full ten million.

Bicycling may cause genital numbness, but doesn’t result in a statistically significant rate of erectile dysfunction in men, while women bicyclists are no more likely to report urinary or sexual dysfunction symptoms than swimmers or runners.

The parents of fallen Boulder, Colorado junior cycling champ Magnus White hope a memorial ride marking his death next month will be the largest advocacy ride in history.

There’s a special place in hell for the 41-year old Pueblo, Colorado man who shot a child in the back over an allegedly stolen bicycle; he faces three counts of attempted 2nd degree murder, despite causing the kid only minor injuries.

Thousands of riders participating in the annual RAGBRAI ride across Iowa visited tiny Greenfield, Iowa — population 2057 — just two months after a devastating tornado killed four people and injured dozens more.

The Boston Globe says bikes are booming in Beantown as new separated and protected bikeways roll out, but barriers to biking remain. Kinda like just about everywhere else, but without the spiffy new infrastructure in a lot of places.

J-Lo continues to impress fashionistas with her casual bike chic, going for a casual ride in the Hamptons in a floral skirt and matching bandeau top.

 

International

British Columbia bike riders complain that bicycles are just an afterthought on the local ferries.

More proof bikes mean business. Hotels and bicycle touring companies in a pair of Scottish cities have seen an increase in business since a new coast-to-coast bike route opened a year ago.

A writer for Cycling Weekly considers whether getting on your bike is really the best medicine, as more and more physicians in the UK prescribe bicycling to cure what ails you.

A British bike shop owner says “it’s a bit of a Wild West out there” when it comes to the safety of ebike batteries, as King Charles calls for better regulation of high risk products such as the lithium-ion batteries found in many ebikes.

You won’t find any “cyclists” in The Hague in the Netherlands, which PeopleForBikes calls the world’s best bicycling city. Although the country does use “the” a lot, and has some weird rules on its capitalization.

Michelin offers a handy guide to biking to newly bike-friendly Barcelona’s hotels and restaurants. Bearing in mind that tourists aren’t exactly welcomed by everyone in the Catalan city.

Good on them. Japan decided to cut the speed limit on narrow roadways from 60 kph to just 30 kph — aka 36 mph to 18 mph — which will affect roughly 70% of the nation’s streets, while improving safety for everyone.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bike World News introduces the US Olympic Cycling Team.

Newly re-crowned Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar pulled out of the Paris Games after winning the race on Sunday, aiming for a triple crown by winning the world championship, after taking the Giro title earlier this year.

British time trialist George Fox set an unofficial new road bike record over a 10 mile course, knocking two seconds off the current mark, while using a controversial triathlon bike.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you interrupt your ride across Iowa for a cold beer in The Middle of Nowhere. Or when your favorite bike path is closed for a boat race, even though boats hardly ever ride bikes.

And how to catch Olympic motor doping.

Let’s just hope they do a better job with that than they do with regular doping.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Man on bike killed by pickup driver on SR-56 in San Diego’s Carmel Valley Ranch; 9th San Diego County bike death this year

July 17, 2024 / / One comment

A man was killed riding a bicycle in San Diego’s Carmel Mountain Ranch Wednesday morning.

Which is almost all we know right now.

Multiple sources are reporting the victim was struck by the driver of Dodge Ram pickup while crossing Interstate 15 on westbound State Route 56 around 9:25 am.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, died after being taken to a local hospital with major injuries.

The 33-year old driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators; there’s no word on whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.

There’s also no word on how the crash occurred, though given the location, it’s likely the victim was struck with the massive truck at highway speed.

This is at least the 30th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth that I’m aware of already this year in San Diego County.

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

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

Woman critical after hit-and-run in San Diego’s Rancho Peñasquitos, and guilty plea in Tracey Gross hit-and-run death

July 15, 2024 / / One comment
Just 169 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

I’m still looking for anyone interested in filling in here after my shoulder surgery next month, whether you’re willing to take over for a day or two a week, or simply submitting a guest post or two. 

Just email me at the address on the About page, above. 

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

A hit-and-run driver left a 60-year old woman with life-threatening injuries in in San Diego’s Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood Sunday morning.

The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was riding her mountain bike eastbound in the 13100 block of Rancho Peñasquitos Blvd around 8:40 am, when a driver traveling in the same direction swerved into her.

Police are looking for a mid-sized, silver or charcoal gray SUV of an undetermined make. There’s no description of the driver, who was reportedly driving erratically prior to the crash.

The victim suffered injuries including bleeding in the brain, as well as a broken neck.

Anyone with information is urged to call the traffic division of the San Diego Police Department 858/495-7823; or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 888/580-8477.

Hopefully, the victim will recover from her injuries, and they’ll find — and prosecute — the heartless coward who did it to her.

………

A 26-year old Riverside man faces sentencing in September after pleading guilty to killing an Oceanside woman.

According to the San Diego County DA’s office, Christian Joshua Howard pled guilty on Thursday to a single felony count of hit-and-run causing death, along with a misdemeanor count of destroying or concealing evidence for the March 17th collision that killed 51-year old Oceanside postal carrier Tracey Gross.

Howard reportedly dragged Gross’ bike two miles underneath his car as he fled the scene, running her down as she rode her bike home after going into work at the post office on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign for Gross’ family stands just $55 short of the $20,000 goal.

………

It’s now 207 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full 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.

A Chicago letter writer pushes back on a bicyclist’s assertion that people drive aggressively and angrily and are actively hostile to people on bicycles, arguing that from a driver’s and pedestrian’s perspective, bike riders are no different.

Yet another Conservative British city councilmember called for license plates for bicycles to put them on a level playing field with trucks, vans and cars, as if bicyclists somehow pose the same risk to others as motor vehicles; meanwhile, another Conservative councilmember complains that no one will ride a hilly bike route — yet at the same time, warns of anti-social behavior by bike riders on their way down.

A Singapore car columnist argues for bicyclists to have to pay the same road taxes as motorists, insisting that “bicycles are not ‘bigger’ than cars, but some cyclists ride like big idiots.”

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

Authorities in Montreal have installed new speed bumps — not for drivers, but to slow down people on bicycles.

Police were called when teenagers were observed riding bikes and smoking week in the aisles of a UK supermarket, searching them and obtaining “their details.”

Police in Dubai confiscated nearly 650 bicycles and e-escooters from lawbreaking bicyclists. Which sounds like a lot, until you consider it’s a country of 3.5 million people. 

………

Local 

Writing for a Santa Clarita paper, a retired LAPD motorcycle cop somehow feels the need to remind bike riders that the law applies to them, too. Funny how no one ever seems to feel the need to remind drivers about that, even though they break the law just as often, with far deadlier consequences.

Long Beach leads the way when it comes to SoCal traffic circles.

 

State

Simi Valley will get a new bike plan, after the city awarded a nearly quarter-million-dollar contract to develop a new plan, including an outreach program featuring at least three community workshops, 10 local events, and web and social media engagement. Although as we’ve learned the hard way here in Los Angeles, even the best plan is only as good as the commitment of city leaders to actually build the damn thing.

 

National

A travel website recommends ten beautiful rail trails across the US that they say you need to ride at least once. None of which are in Los Angeles. Or California, for that matter. 

The author of Seattle Bike Blog rode his ebike 30 miles to Everett, Washington to play night hockey, then rode another 30 miles back home.

A Utah man explains what he’s learned from riding the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail nearly 4,000 miles across the US to raise funds for college scholarships in the state.

A 22-year old Florida woman was killed by a Sarasota County sheriff’s deputy as she was just walking her bicycle across the street, raising the question of why the hell the cop couldn’t manage to avoid her.

 

International

Momentum offers ten ways bicycles “deliver the freedom that cars can only promise.”

A petition urging Toronto food delivery riders to obey the law has drawn less than 300 signatures in two weeks, despite being featured in the city’s main newspaper.

Lila Moss is one of us, as the model daughter of former supermodel Kate Moss went for a bikeshare ebike ride through London.

The head of English foldie-maker Brompton warns that contraction in the bike industry isn’t over, predicting that more bicycle businesses will go belly up this winter.

Velo says famed British designer Paul Smilth has the biggest, best and most extensive collection of bicycle memorabilia you’ll ever see.

Bicyclists in the UK are less satisfied with bike lane design and maintenance, feel less safe, and face more barriers to riding than bicyclists in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.

A 26-year old British woman will spend a well-deserved eight years and eight months behind bars for the drunken and stoned hit-and-run that killed a 40-year old bike rider

The best bike routes for your next trip to Andalucía, Spain.

Kim Kardashian is one of us, going for a nearly naked, lightless bikini-clad ride after a nighttime swim in Puglia, Italy.

A writer for The Guardian describes how he found his bliss bicycling along the coast of Estonia. Raise your hand if you didn’t even know Estonia had a coast. 

An Aussie bicycle advocacy group looks to tax receipts from San Francisco’s Valencia Street to argue that bike lanes don’t have a negative effect on local businesses.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar won his second consecutive stage on Sunday over fellow two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard; Pogačar enters today’s rest day with a three minute, nine second lead over his chief rival.

The New York Times says forget the rest of the peloton, the Tour de France is down to a two-man race between Pogačar and Vingegaard, between them winners of the past four Tours.

Slovenia’s Primož Roglič is out of the Tour de France after crashing hard and losing time in stage 12.

Covid is taking a toll in the race, with several riders dropping out, while Geraint Thomas is continuing to race despite the illness, and members of the press face a mask mandate.

The pro cyclists union plans to take legal action against a “fan” who assaulted the race leaders — with potato chips.

An Egyptian cyclist was kicked off the country’s Olympic team following uproar over her selection, despite knocking a competitor off her bike in a sprint.

 

Finally…

Why just ride a bike when you can pedal a canoe across Scotland? Who needs tires when your bike can wear slippers?

And you can see a lot of things riding a bike — like a Patagonian rodent as big as a medium-sized dog, thousands of miles from its normal South American range.

https://www.tiktok.com/@accuweather/video/7388563615881661727?embed_source=121374463%2C121442748%2C121439635%2C121433650%2C121404359%2C121351166%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_blank&refer=embed&referer_url=www.msn.com%2Fen-us%2Flifestyle%2Fpets%2Fcolorado-resident-out-on-a-bike-ride-stumbles-across-a-rodent-native-to-south-america%2Far-BB1pXIhm&referer_video_id=7388563615881661727

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Nonprofit overseeing CA ebike voucher program under investigation, and Gordon Ramsay says “wear your helmet”

June 17, 2024 / / One comment
Just 198 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.

Image by Maxfoot from Pixabay.

………

And that, my friends, is when it all went to hell.

As you may know, we’ve been tracking the moribund California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which has now reached 178 days since we were promised it would open in fall of last year.

Spoiler alert — it didn’t.

It’s also a full three years since the plan was approved by the state legislature and signed into law by the governor. And counting.

And just two weeks before they’re guaranteed to miss the most recent promised launch date in the second quarter of this year, which has now been pushed back to sometime this summer.

They’re not likely to meet that one, either.

Because the program charged with operating the California ebike incentive program, San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, could end up facing charges themselves.

In fact, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Pedal Ahead is currently facing not one, not two, but three ongoing investigations. (Although the paper’s newly even more draconian paywall means you’ll have to register with your email if you want to read it.)

It’s a confusing and convoluted story. But the gist of it is that Pedal Ahead is accused of being delinquent in filing the required paperwork with various government agencies, leading to investigations by San Diego County, the California Air Resources Board, and the California Department of Justice.

Yet somehow, they’re supposed to handle the increasingly complicated statewide program, which has now been funded with a still-too-small $31 million to distribute, even though that’s up from the initial $10 million fund, which was reduced to just $7.5 million after overhead.

And even though they’ve been removed as operators of the low-income ebike loan-to-own program launched by the San Diego Association of Governments two years ago.

Yet it was that “expertise” that formed the basis of their selection to operate the statewide program.

But at least that part of the story is clear.

It gets more confusing when the paper tries to explain the numerous nonprofit and for-profit companies opened by Pedal Ahead chief executive Edward Clancy in recent years, many with nearly identical names.

And many, if not most, of which either ran into problems, or apparently never got beyond the naming stage.

Then there’s the fact that Clancy wore a wire for the FBI’s probe into illegal campaign financing involving his former boss and a Mexican businessman, while skating on any possible charges himself.

Clancy was appointed as “bike czar” by former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, who resigned under a torrent of sexual misconduct accusations after less than a year in office.

According to the Union-Tribune,

Clancy was later reported to have been a confidential informant in an unrelated federal investigation into illegal campaign financing in San Diego County.

The Union-Tribune reported in 2014 that he wore a wire for the FBI, recording conversations with three people who were later charged with coordinating $500,000 in donations from Mexican businessman Jose Susumo Azano Matsura to Filner, then-District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and two Democratic political committees.

Clancy, who received qualified immunity from federal prosecutors and was never himself charged with any wrongdoing, maintained his political connections after he stopped consulting.

No problem, then.

It’s long past time that the state legislature conducted an open, public hearing into the problems with the state ebike incentive program that have led to its ongoing failure to launch, despite the clear intent of our elected leaders.

And shine a much-needed light on a program that has been utterly opaque up to this point.

Because something tells me what we’ve learned today is just the tip of an iceberg big enough to sink the Titanic all over again.

Thanks to Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette for the heads-up. 

………

The common theme over the weekend, the one that sucked the air out of the news headlines, is Gordon’s Ramsay’s advice to wear your bike helmet.

Yes, the lovably irascible chef is one of us. Although “lovably” kind of depends on your perspective.

Ramsay revealed in a Father’s Day greeting that he had been the victim of a bad bicycling crash in Connecticut recently, lifting his traditional chef’s jacket to reveal a badly bruised torso. And crediting his shattered helmet and “those incredible trauma surgeons, doctors, nurses in the hospitals” that looked after him with saving his life.

Meanwhile, a writer for the Christian Science Monitor also says wear a helmet, and put front, and especially, rear lights on your bike, offering his own hard-won experience in Long Beach as proof.

Although he misses the mark in calling out bicyclists for riding “two, three or even four abreast.” forcing drivers to “swerve completely into the incoming traffic lane.”

Never mind that riding abreast helps prevent unsafe passing, and using the next lane to go around them is exactly what drivers are supposed to do.

Then again, even Dutch officials are calling for the country’s largely helmet averse population to change “because the brain is very vulnerable.”

………

Nothing like have your bike stolen right in front of you on a Metro platform in broad daylight, as passengers look on.

………

It’s not every day you actually see a positive report about new bike lanes on the local news.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdK5c-i6HDs

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

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

No bias here. A writer for an off-road racing website blames a group of Atlanta bike riders for complaining when a cop ignored the speeding BMW driver who zoomed around them on the wrong side of the road, only to lecture them for some undisclosed reason. “We’ve all encountered entitled, difficult cyclists before,” he writes. “Maybe they’re riding three or four abreast, not letting cars get by, and acting aggressive towards any driver who does try to pass.”

A UK paper complains about the mythical war on cars over plans to fine drivers who step out into London bike lanes, as if the real problem is the penalty, and not the reason for it.

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

Bavarian police observed over 11,500 bicycling infractions over a one-month period of heightened enforcement.

………

Local 

Discover Los Angeles reminds us about this Sunday’s CicLAvia on Western Ave in South LA.

Here’s your chance to tell Glendale you want a permanent calmer, safer North Brand Boulevard, after the city’s successful pilot project.

Pasadena is implementing a quick build safety improvement program on Allen Ave between Colorado Blvd and Villa Street, offering enhanced crosswalks, curb extensions and new bicycle lanes.

Active SGV offers a recap on the recent Active Streets: Mission to Mission, including an appearance by the inimitable Gabe the Sasquatch.

Malibu releases details on the upcoming safety improvements on deadly PCH. All of which only offer a downpayment on what the killer highway really needs. 

 

State

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, says three speeding bills they support are moving forward in the state legislature, including bills to allow speed cams on PCH in Malibu, and increase penalties for speeding on highways.

Motor vehicle speeds aren’t the only concern for state legislators, however, as AB 1774 would prohibit the sale of any product or device that can modify the speed of an ebike.

The California Building Standards Commission wants your input to shape bike parking standards in the new state building code.

Just days after the heartbreaking death of a 17-year old San Diego boy killed by an Amtrak train while riding his bike across the tracks, comes news that California is the deadliest state for train collisions, with 38 fatal crashes last year, compared to just 21 in Florida, the next highest state.

The Orange County Power Authority is launching its own ebike voucher program, offering up to $1,500 for income-qualified buyers.

Beach cities aren’t the only ones freaking out about ebike safety, as cities in California’s Inland Empire attempt to rein in teenagers on electric bicycles. Although they often conflate ebikes and e-motorbikes.

The latest proposal to replace San Francisco’s widely loathed Valencia Street center-running bike lane would create a slalom course as the bike lane swerves around restaurant parklets.

 

National

A writer for Bike Magazine pens a Father’s Day ode to his favorite riding companion, and the man who gave him everything.

Despite the best efforts of rightwing culture warriors, the World Naked Bike Ride returned to Mad City, Wisconsin on Saturday.

There’s not a pit deep enough for the schmuck who stole an 11-year old boy’s lowrider bike he’d customized himself from a New Mexico museum display.

Hundreds of teenaged bike riders gathered in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley to call for nationwide bike safety improvements at the 10th annual national Youth Bike Summit.

In news that should surprise absolutely no one — but probably will — a new study from New Jersey’s Rutger’s University shows bike lanes calm roadways, improving safety for everyone.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever rode off after stealing a collection jar raising funds for a premature Florida baby.

 

International

The mayor of Quebec City offers a master class in how to respond to accusations that bicyclists don’t pay for the services we receive. Although you’ll need to read the subtitles if you don’t understand French. Thanks again to Megan Lynch. 

A neighborhood in Birmingham, England is now offering an e-cargo bikeshare service to help cut pollution.

The UK’s best bicycle-friendly homes, starting at just £225,000 — the equivalent of a little over $285,000. I’ll send y’all a postcard once I get settled.

 

Competitive Cycling

That’s Sir Mark Cavendish to you, now.

Twenty-year old Norwegian pro Johannes Kulset is demanding an apology from cycling’s governing body after he was banned from the Tour of Slovenia for using the ‘super tuck’ position, denying he used his chest or forearms for support.

A pair of best buds are hoping to set a new record for the fastest duo to cross the Atlantic City finish line for the Race Across America, aka RAAM.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own your very own Van Gogh bike. Ranking the Euro 2024 soccer teams based on how bike-friendly their cities are.

And there’s actually nothing funny about using laughing gas behind the wheel.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Update: 17-year old boy killed by San Diego Amtrak train after riding around crossing gates; 2nd SoCal bike death Friday

June 15, 2024 / / Comments Off on Update: 17-year old boy killed by San Diego Amtrak train after riding around crossing gates; 2nd SoCal bike death Friday

Sadly, there was more bad news for the Southern California bicycling community on Friday.

According to multiple reports, a 17-year old boy was killed when he was struck by an Amtrak train in San Diego’s University City neighborhood early Friday afternoon.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was crossing the railroad tracks on Sorrento Valley Blvd, between Sorrento Valley Road and Roselle Street, when he was hit by the southbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner at 12:34 pm.

He died at the scene.

The victim was one of three boys who stopped their bikes at the railroad crossing gates to wait for a northbound train to pass. But as so often happens, he rode around the gates after that train had passed, not realizing another train was coming in the opposite direction.

Tragically, Fox5 reports that the victim’s parents arrived shortly after the crash, while officials were still removing his mangled bike from the tracks.

The other two boys were not injured. It’s not clear if they were riding with the victim, or just happened to stop together at the gates.

This is yet another tragic reminder to always wait until the gates go up to cross any rail tracks, regardless of whether it seems safe at the time.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Sheriff’s Department’s non-emergency line at 858/565-5200.

This is at least the 24th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in San Diego County.

Update: The victim has been identified 17-year old Alex Segal. He was a student at Torrey Pines High School in the Del Mar Heights neighborhood, and a member of the junior varsity soccer team.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Alex Segal and all his family and loved ones.

Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up. 

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