Tag Archive for Santa Monica

New York revises police chase rules, but LA cities don’t; and SaMo shop supports LA bicyclists affected by the wildfires

January 16, 2025 / / No comments
We’re now 16 days into LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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The NYPD is changing its policy for high speed police chases.

The department is no restricting them to only the most serious and violent crimes, rather than traffic infractions, violations and nonviolent misdemeanors.

This comes after more than a quarter of the 2,200 police chases in New York City last year resulted in crashes, property damage or physical injuries. Or worse — including the October death of a woman riding a bicycle.

This announcement came the same day a Las Vegas driver killed someone riding a bicycle, while fleeing from a traffic stop just half a mile away. Another person was hospitalized when the driver, who was taken into custody, crashed into another car.

Now someone just needs to send LA area cops the memo, where crashes like that happen far too often.

Today’s image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay.

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Hats off to Santa Monica’s Pedal Mafia bike shop, which is supporting the area’s tight knit bicycling community by distributing new bikewear to people who lost theirs in last week’s fires.

Although something tells me they’re not the only members of the bicycling community helping victims of the wildfires.

So if you know any groups, shops or individuals who deserve a shoutout for helping people affected by the fires, let me know.

And if you know someone in our extended bicycling family who needs help, let me know that, too.

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Lost in last week’s calamity was the announcement of the year’s first CicLAvia, West Adams meets University Park, on Sunday, February 23rd.

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Streets For All moved the date for their latest virtual Happy Hour to next Wednesday, featuring newly-elected LA City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.

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Damian Kevitt, founder of Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, invites you to join various Los Angeles groups to help clean up LA.

We’ve teamed up with local groups to organize 100% volunteer fueled clean-ups that tackle the mess left behind from recent windstorms and help restore neighborhoods we all love.

We invite you to join an existing clean-up or rally your own group.

Here’s what’s currently scheduled:

More are being added. If you can’t join one of these clean-ups, you can organize your own – even with just a few people. We can list it at LetsCleanLA.org to encourage others to join you!

Take photos and share your grime-fighting activities with #LetsCleanLA and #LAStrong to encourage other Angelenos all over the county to get out and do the same.

Let’s turn this challenge into an opportunity to show what LA is made of—resilience, community, and a whole lot of heart.

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No surprise here, as the annual Los Angeles Firecracker run, walk and bike ride has been indefinitely postponed due to last week’s wildfires, with a new date to be announced.

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Like the images that followed the atomic blast at Hiroshima, this is what it looks like when a kid’s bike was simply vaporized by the intense firestorm in the Palisades. 

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

The recently anti-bike London Times blames the new Parisian bike lanes for driving passengers from the city’s buses, arguing that narrowed streets have slowed bus trips, yet no one ever seems to blame congestion on the people in cars who actually cause it; it’s a far cry from the paper’s award-winning campaign supporting safe bicycling infrastructure just 12 years earlier.

Australian authorities have arrested an 18-year old man for stringing fence wire across a pair of bike paths near Adelaide, injuring two riders and severely damaging four bikes; he has been charged with four counts of endangering life, which carries a sentence of up to 25 years per count. Which means he could leave prison as a dapper 118-year old ex-con.

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

Welsh police are urging a hit-and-run bike rider to come forward because a woman who had been walking her dog with her husband died five weeks after she was struck by a man riding a bicycle, whose identity was hidden by a face covering.

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Local  

Momentum says Paris’ Olympic bicycle revolution offers lessons for Los Angeles and other global cities, ranging from prioritizing safety to committing to a long-term vision. Although whether Los Angeles will actually learn anything from Paris — let alone do anything — is highly debatable.

Los Angeles has just four years to rebuild planned Olympic venues destroyed by last week’s fires; fortunately, the velodrome in Carson was unaffected, though road races may need to be rerouted.

A Los Angeles man rode an ebike more than 20 miles to discover the Pacific Palisades townhouse he shares with his family was still standing, but the home he grew up in that his mother had just moved out of, not so much.

Another man rode a Metro Bike to try to rescue the dogs left behind when the Palisades Fire erupted as he was working in DTLA; when he couldn’t get through the barricades, a firefighter knocked down his door to save the pets.

 

State

Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry is stepping away from the nonprofit transportation news site, which will be a big loss for all of us who have long admired her dogged determination to dig out the facts; former Streetsblog Los Angeles editor Damian Newton will now step into the role.

San Clemente considers barring kids under 16 and requiring a driver’s license to carry a passenger on an ebike, as well as requiring a passenger seat attached to the bike. Although whether they actually have that authority under state law is debatable.

Plans for a protected bike lane along a deadly section of University Ave in eastern San Diego suffered a setback when inflation pushed all the contractor bids above $23.4 million expected price tag. At least we’ll blame inflation, because simple greed couldn’t have anything to do with it, right?

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission is holding a public workshop today to consider the proposal to remove the multiuse path from the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on a trial basis, giving the space back to motor vehicles on weekdays, and only allowing bikes and pedestrians on weekends; a shuttle bus would transport bike riders when the path is closed. The Marin County Bicycle Coalition is calling for people to speak out at the 1 pm meeting.

 

National

The National Bicycle Network now extends over 2,300 miles across the US with the addition of four newly expanded routes.

An Oregon bill would ban high-speed ped-assist ebikes from bike lanes and sidewalks. Although a better option would be to simply reclassify them as mo-peds, rather than ebikes, which are already required to use the street. 

Another new Oregon bill would limit the state’s $1,200 ebike vouchers to people on government assistance. Which is great if your goal is to provide efficient transportation to those most in need, but not so much if the goal is to get people out of their cars. 

Washington will launch its first ebike rebate program in April with a budget of $5 million. Which is twice the amount available in California’s first round, even though California has five times the population of the Evergreen State.

Montana legislators wisely pulled a bill that would have required all bicyclists to ride against traffic, unless they are led and followed by a flagged vehicle, and regardless of whether they’re riding on the shoulder or in a traffic lane. Apparently, just another attempt to thin the herd.

Now you, too, can own your very own bikeshare system, as Austin, Texas puts their whole damn thing on the auction block. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link. 

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A longtime Grand Rapids, Michigan stage hand was killed by an alleged drunk driver who reportedly “flew” off a highway exit ramp and blew through a red light, striking the man as he rode his bike to work because he couldn’t afford parking on a stage hand’s wages; it was the driver’s second DUI arrest in just over a year. That’s what happens when judges and prosecutors bargain away felony DUIs because they don’t want to inconvenience first time offenders. Or second. Or third.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed reclassifying the fastest and heaviest ebikes as mo-peds, requiring a license and registration. Although Streetsblog says very few ebikes actually exceed the governor’s 100-pound limit.

New Jersey became the first state to write into law an administrative body tasked with steering the state to zero traffic deaths, although they couldn’t bring themselves to call it Vision Zero, terming it Target Zero, instead.

A Florida bike rider says the rumble strips in the bike lanes on A1A, the state’s coastal highway, are going to kill someone, after he ended up with a broken collarbone when he inadvertently rode over them.

 

International

Cyclist recommends the year’s best bicycling documentaries.

Momentum suggests seven “stunning” national bike routes around the globe, including the Great American Rail-Trail in this country.

Cycling Weekly examines why men outnumber women riders on the road, but women cyclists vastly outnumber men in the gym.

He gets it. A British Columbia writer says when we discuss crashes, we need to emphasize the people involved, not just cars — and not “cyclists,” which automatically “others” the person on the bicycle.

Buried in a Guardian story about the “conflict” between bikeshare ebike riders and regular bicyclists is the fact that accident data shows no difference in the rate of crashes between ebike and non-electrified bicycle riders, suggesting that the common perception that ebike riders are more aggressive is a myth.

An English man is marking the fifth anniversary of his mother’s death from cancer by riding 300 miles in her memory; a crowdfunding campaign has already raised the equivalent of nearly $1,000 for cancer research charity.

A British writer says he’s tired of being blinded by bicycle strobe lights, calling flashing bike lights a menace on the roads and sidewalks. You’ll my flashers when you pry them out of my cold, dead hands, because they do far too much to improve safety when you ride. But I angle them down so they don’t shine in people’s eyes. 

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website shares inspiring stories from women riders.

A new Spanish law requires drivers to slow down by the equivalent of 12.5 mph below the posted speed limit before passing people on bicycles, while still requiring motorists to give a 4.5-foot passing distance.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Giro goes to Albania, as the classic Italian stage race announced its 2025 route.

Spain’s Costa Blanca coast is becoming overpopulated with pro cycling teams taking advantage of the region’s ideal weather for winter training camps, as well as their fans, resulting in the inevitable traffic jams of the two and four wheeled variety.

British pro Tom Pidcock says he’s happy to step off cycling’s biggest stage, passing on the Tour de France to compete in the Giro and Vuelta for his new team.

Former two-time US national champ, three-time Tour of California and one-time Tour de Suisse champ Levi Leipheimer says he wants to reinvigorate US road racing by offering $156,000 in prize money for his annual Sonoma County gran fondo, billing it as the country’s richest and toughest road race.

The annual Tour de Big Bear will be bigger and uh, bear-ier than ever, with road, gravel and mountain bike races, as well as a festival, bike demos and beer, if not bears.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you ride a bikeshare bike to the British premier of your acclaimed Bob Dylan biopic, only to get a ticket for improper parking. Or when you decide to ride across Europe, and your mom invites herself along.

And that feeling when you go on a 3,700-mile ride across New Zealand, Australia and French Polynesia, and can’t get a sitter for your kids.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

41-year old man struck by two drivers, killed while riding bicycle on Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica early Sunday morning

November 20, 2024 / / 2 comments

Our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad November is showing no sign of letting up.

Now another bicyclist has been killed on the mean streets of Southern California, the sixth so far this month — an average of just over one every three days.

According to multiple sources, the victim was riding south on the 1800 block of Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica around 12:30 am Sunday, when he was struck by a driver, knocked off his bike, and hit by another driver.

The victim, identified as 41-year old Los Angeles resident Bradley Allen Proudfoot, died at the scene. The Santa Monica Daily Press reports he was believed to be homeless.

Both drivers remained at the scene, and neither showed signs of impairment, according to police investigators. There’s no word at this time on the cause of the collision, or who may have been at fault.

Anyone who with information is urged to call the Santa Monica Police Department at 310/458-8427.

However, this is more evidence that Lincoln remains one of Santa Monica’s deadliest corridors, despite a decades-long effort to fix it.

This is at least the 51st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 16th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Bradley Allen Proudfoot and his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

World Day of Remembrance,Westwood Mobility Popup on Sunday; and bike-friendly November election wins

November 15, 2024 / / Comments Off on World Day of Remembrance,Westwood Mobility Popup on Sunday; and bike-friendly November election wins
Just 45 days until LA fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Sunday is the World Day of Remembrance for the victims of traffic violence.

So take a moment to remember those who have been sacrificed to the almighty motor vehicle gods, and those who drive them — including the 48 SoCal bike riders who have needlessly lost their lives this year.

Streets Are For Everyone, So Cal Families for Safe Streets, LA Walks, Bike LA and SAFE Families will hold memorials Sunday to remember the 746 people killed in collisions in Los Angeles County last year at Gloria Molina Grand Park in DTLA, at 9:30 am, 11 am, and 2:30 pm.

Other observances will be held in Corona and San Diego; see the top link in this section for details.

Photo by Tucă Bianca from Pexels.

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Candidates endorsed by Streets For All helped lead to bike-friendly city council majorities in Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Culver City, as well as winning races in CD10  and CD14 in Los Angeles.

So maybe the new majority in Culver City can undo the ridiculous removal of the highly successful MOVE Culver City protected bike lanes.

We can hope, right?

Meanwhile, Calbike claims victory for seven of the nine bike-friendly candidates they endorsed in this month’s election, including new Burbank Assemblymember Nick Schultz, and new Los Angeles Assemblymembers Jessica Caloza and Sade Elhawary.

And famed Emeryville “Bike Mayor” and cargo bike pilot John Bauters is now officially an Alameda County District Supervisor.

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Streets For All is hosting a mobility popup in Westwood this Sunday, in conjunction with AARP.

And Bike LA — the former Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition — will host their annual Bike Fest Happy Hour a week from tomorrow.

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It’s now 331 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.

Meanwhile, San Francisco’s ebike rebate pilot program boosted the net earnings of delivery workers compared to using a car, while generating virtually no greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

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

Cycling Weekly offers tips on how to rebut the usual anti-bike rants.

It will cost at least $48 million to remove Toronto bike lanes targeted by bike-unfriendly Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Once again, someone has boobytrapped a UK mountain bike trail, stringing electric wire fencing at neck level across the trail, which could shock or strangle, if not decapitate, an unsuspecting victim. And which should be prosecuted appropriately once they find the asshole.

A road raging Norwegian driver went on a rampage against a bike-riding man, first blocking the bike lane with his van, then drop kicking him off his bicycle before assaulting both bike and rider.

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Local  

Santa Monica’s 17th Street and Michigan Ave Safe Streets project was named Transportation Project of the Year by the Southern California Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA).

 

State

Coronado considers banning ebikes from sidewalks.

Livability says the all-year sunshine, mild high desert climate, and open roads and mountain bike trails make San Bernardino County’s Victor Valley a bicycling paradise.

Heartbreaking news from Bakersfield, where a 13-year old boy was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle home from school.

Sonoma is looking for feedback on the city’s Active Transportation Plan.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a man in his 40s was killed by a motorist when he allegedly swerved his bike in front of the driver’s SUV.

Sacramento is considering a plan to limit parking spaces in new buildings, while increasing bike parking; Los Angeles passed a similar measure over a decade ago.

 

National

Consumer Affairs ranks the worst states per capita for bike thefts. Shockingly, California isn’t on the brief list.

About damn time. GM is making technology to alert drivers to the presence of bicyclists standard equipment on all its brands, beginning with the 2025 model year.

Bike Magazine highlights the country’s six best winter mountain biking destinations; the list includes Southern California from Santa Barbara to Santa Monica. Although word has it that Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties ain’t bad, either.

Five years after a Minneapolis street safety advocate was killed while riding his bicycle, his father continues to carry on his son’s work.

Tragic news from Wisconsin, where five people were killed when their car went off the road and struck a tree; all five were active in the annual Ride to Cure Diabetes, a fundraising ride to fight type 1 diabetes.

Life is cheap in Connecticut, where a 72-year old woman walked without a single day behind bars for killing a 47-year old woman riding a bicycle while “fiddling” with her steering wheel, and the two “just seemed to merge together.” Yeah, that’s one way to describe it.

An Atlantic City writer says he knew an ebike was the best investment he ever made the moment he sat in the saddle.

 

International

Momentum highlights the seven lightest ebikes for easy urban riding, and lists the top ten reasons to bike to work in the winter. Most of which don’t apply here in sunny SoCal.

Life is cheap in Ontario, Canada, where a driver walked without a single day behind bars after he was sentenced to home vacation detention for the hit-and-run death of a 54-year old man, despite leaving his bike-riding victim to die alone in a ditch.

British bicyclists are warned not to ignore pain or weakness in your hands, which could result in a serious condition known as cyclist’s palsy. The same advice holds on this side of the Atlantic. 

A 62-year old father and noted criminal defense attorney died in a solo fall during a Belfast, Northern Ireland sportive when he struck a badly worn speed bump.

No surprise here, as a “groundbreaking” new German study shows bicyclists exhibit a greater commitment to the common good than their motoring counterparts.

More proof bikes make the best emergency vehicles, as bicycles prove critical in the wake of extreme flooding in Spain’s Valencia region. Thanks again to Megan Lynch. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist ranks the top 50 cyclists of this decade; Sepp Kuss is the top rated American at number ten.

Sad news from Germany, where six-time world track cycling champ Michael Hubner passed away in a Saxony hospital; he was 65.

French pro cyclist Célia Le Mouel was lucky to escape with minor injuries when a driver turned across her path without looking; her bike was not so lucky.

Three-time Tour de France champ and one-time shotgun blast survivor Greg LeMond tops Cycling Up To Date’s ranking of the all-time best North And South American cyclists.

Carbon monoxide could be the new doping.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to steal a $6500 ebike, maybe don’t leave your old bike behind as evidence. It’s one thing to carry a keyboard on your bicycle, it’s another when your entire bicycle is a piano.

And of course Hitch was one of us.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Open letter to SaMo City Council — Ensure fairness before approving Selective Traffic Enforcement funds today

November 12, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 48 days until LA fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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We have a time-sensitive matter to discuss.

The Santa Monica City Council is going to address a motion to accept a $300,000 grant from the Office of Traffic Safety as part of their pro forma consent calendar at today’s meeting.

The purpose of the grant is to fund more Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operations by the Santa Monica Police Department, in which officers ticket anyone who commits a violation on the road that could endanger vulnerable road users.

But as you’ll see below, that isn’t always enforced equally, fairly or equitably.

Longtime Santa Monica bike advocate and former LACBC Board Member Dr. Michael Cahn wrote the following open letter to the council, calling attention to the windshield bias and other problems inherent in these operations.

So I’m going to step aside, and let Dr. Cahn do the talking today.

You can do some talking of your own by contacting the Santa Monica City Councilmembers prior to today’s 5:30 pm meeting, to call for fairer police enforcement in bike/ped safety operations before approving Item 5D — particularly if you live, work or ride in Santa Monica.

And if you’re one of those unfortunate bike riders who was ticketed in one of the previous operations, they especially need to hear from you.

We’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, to catch up on anything we missed today.

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Dear Council Members,

Before you give a green light to the OTS Grant for 300.000 $ for Selective Traffic Enforcement, let me give you some feedback, from the handlebars and from the sidewalk, looking back at how these grants have worked in the past.

They used to be awarded for Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety, and they were always conducted “through the windshield”. The motto was: Drivers are driving, now let’s keep the pedestrians and cyclists out of harm’s way. To do that we must ticket them when they ride their bikes on the sidewalk, we must educate them to cross at the intersection.

There is a big monster in town, it is called vehicle traffic, and it will snap a pedestrian, a cyclist here and there. The main job of SMPD Traffic Division is to keep the monster rolling through town, and keep those who use the streets without a license plate out of the path of this dangerous beast. Not exactly the best way to address the source of the danger, methinks.

It does not look good when an SMPD Sergeant is parked at the intersection and ignores how this Prius endangers the pedestrian in the crosswalk (Montana):

All photos by Dr. Michael Cahn

But the cyclist on the sidewalk is quickly found and stopped and “enforced”:

Sometimes crossing the intersection without a green light is safer for the cyclist, but the officer only cares about the rules:

SMPD knows that riding bicycles on Lincoln Blvd is hairy, so they do it on the sidewalk:

But the black kid is being hassled for doing the same — riding his bicycle on the sidewalk on Lincoln:

We all sometimes think cars can not be avoided. Our police force, too, is fully subscribed to this attitude. We once had a transportation management division in this city, but how do you manage the king of the American road? The car is in charge, but CicLAvias and other open streets events come and go.

And yet, we must manage and challenge all this driving. We must do less of it, and we must do it less often. And the SMPD, too, must project this goal of less driving. One way to do this is to contradict the idea that driving is always necessary (it is not), that we all drive (we do not). Imagine the citywide moment of education and insight that would happen if our own police department challenged the poison of motonormativity. Encourage the SMPD to challenge the notion that driving is the default. Let’s see these officers on their bicycles enforcing the law on Wilshire, for a change.

Yes, they do ride their bicycles on the beach path, but are they big and strong enough to do it in town? In town the bicycles are transported on the back of a car.

Chicken anybody?

SMPD avoiding ride bicycles on city streets (“we are not crazy”):

Every time the SMPD is not riding a bicycle in traffic, it gives us cyclists the sense that we are just a crazy suicidal minority. And it gives all the drivers out there the same message: Crazy cyclists. What we need from them is to share the road with us on a bicycle, and to bring their authority and their uniforms and their tickets to the bike lane, and to deal with the drivers parking on the bike lane, turning without indicating, overtaking dangerously, ignoring crosswalks, opening doors without looking.  This should be part of the 300K grant from OTS!

You want safer streets in Santa Monica? Put your officers on bicycles and let them ride up and down Wilshire, up and down Lincoln. That is where the education and the enforcement needs to happen. Enforcement of our drivers, the single most dangerous road participants

You know you want to do it, just see how you imagined the SMPD as an all terrain mountain cyclists force. No road chickens here.

Please make approval of item 5D contingent on consideration of the following items

  1. Highly visible bicycle patrols on heavily trafficked streets: Film it, Share it: Show us and show the community that cars are not always necessary.
  2. Conduct Crosswalk Sting Operations on Montana, Wilshire and Santa Monica Blvd etc. Film it, Share it.
  3. Enforcement of drivers who stop or park on bike lanes.
  4. Enforcement of illegal parking and waiting around schools: Lincoln Middle School has crossing guards. Their good work is made impossible by parents defiantly waiting in their cars on bike lanes and in alleys in the vicinity. Saint Monica School proudly displays long lines of illegal parking and waiting on California Ave over multiple blocks.
  5. Revisit the sidewalk riding ordinance.

Thank you !

— Dr Michael Cahn

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It’s now 328 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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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Guest Columns / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Local news better than national for active transportation; and $1 billion LA River gap could be closed in our lifetimes, maybe

November 7, 2024 / / Comments Off on Local news better than national for active transportation; and $1 billion LA River gap could be closed in our lifetimes, maybe
Just 54 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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I hope you’ll forgive yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

After writing about the man killed riding his bicycle in Victorville, I just wasn’t in a good space, mentally or emotionally.

And I’m still not. 

To be honest, this week’s election feels like a repudiation of everything I have believed and work for my entire life. While I understand you may think differently, that’s just where I am right now, until I get a chance to work through it. 

Which could take a little time. 

Photo by Element5 Digital from Pexels.

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One reason for my disappointment is that the election of Donald Trump and a GOP majority in the Senate does not bode well for active transportation, which has frequently been targeted for cuts by Republicans.

But as bad as the national news is for some of us, Streets For All founder Michael Schneider says the news locally was much better.

I’m also pleased to report that former Assembly Transportation Chair Laura Friedman will be my new representative in Congress, replacing newly elected California Senator Adam Schiff.

Although Schiff was named as one of those “enemies within” that Trump has promised to go after, so things could get rocky going forward.

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Don’t plan on riding the full LA River bike path anytime soon.

Closing the eight-mile long gap through DTLA is now expected to cost a hefty $1 billion, with an anticipated completion date of sometime in your lifetime.

Or maybe the next.

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The Partnership For Active Travel and Health released an open letter calling on governments around the world to include walking and biking in their next round of climate commitments.

And they invite you to sign on.

The Partnership for Active Travel and Health (PATH) calls on national governments to commit to walking and cycling in the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reach climate goals and improve people’s health and lives.

Enabling more people to walk and cycle safely and to access public transport by foot and by bicycle can help cut transport emissions in half by 2030 and is a fast-track way to achieve progress on urgent climate goals and the Paris Agreement. Yet PATH’s groundbreaking research shows that walking and cycling are significantly undervalued in countries’ NDCs. Despite two-thirds of nations having active travel policies in place, there remains a pressing need for increased ambition, action, and investment in their climate commitments to fully unlock the benefits of walking and cycling.

PATH has launched a new set of knowledge tools and guidance to support national policymakers to compare and benchmark existing policies, build capacity, and adopt walking and cycling as part of their country’s climate commitments.

  • The PATH’s Active Travel NDC Template offers a step-by-step guide with 20 actions to create effective policies, including interventions to create safe and accessible places to walk and cycle, public campaigns to shift mobility habits and embed walking and cycling into policy processes.
  • The PATH Dashboard visualises data from PATH’s 2023 report National Policies for Walking and Cycling in all 197 UNFCCC countries. It offers an overview of the progress made by countries in integrating walking and cycling strategies into their policy frameworks and NDCs. It also facilitates direct comparisons between countries and pinpoints areas requiring additional investment and ambition.
  • The PATH Walking and Cycling Regional Fact Sheets feature a comprehensive set of infographics analysing NDCs and walking and cycling policies across the six WHO- defined regions, detailing their objectives, actions, investments, and evaluations.

We urge countries to take full advantage of these tools to build walking and cycling into their climate commitments through the next round of NDCs submissions between November 2024 to February 2025, ahead of COP30 in Brazil.

PATH and its over 400 supporters stand ready to support national governments in this process.

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Apparently, ‘cross ain’t as new as we thought.

 

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It’s now 322 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.   

An English writer says he set a personal best on a recent gravel ride — despite getting punched by a motorbike rider — but says the real lesson is why aggression shouldn’t be countered.

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

A Washington woman has filed a $10 million lawsuit against a bike rider who collided with her while doing the trail’s 15 mph speed limit.

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Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Calbike explains how to fight the ebike bikelash, while Kendra Ramsey explains why she’s a bike advocate. I could have answered that question last week; now I’m not so sure. 

Santa Barbara reached an agreement to build a 4,000-foot bike lane to complete a missing link in the city’s bike network; the plan will trade land for an easement, while sparing over half the trees originally planned for removal.

Santa Cruz shares the county’s best bike trails, for your next trip up at that way.

Seriously, who hasn’t gone bike surfing down a steep San Francisco street? Besides me, I mean. 

 

National

Bicycling says the jury is still out on whether biking will affect your sperm count. But they apparently don’t want you to know about it, since this one’s not available elsewhere if the magazine blocks you.

Momentum explains what makes a great bicycling city, while an unrelated slideshow rates the country’s best bike cities, with Portland predictably #1, followed by Washington DC and Philadelphia; San Diego rates 12th, while Los Angeles comes in at a very respectable 17th. Which is how you know it’s bs.

Next City says new research shows bike lanes save lives by slowing drivers at intersections.

An ambulance took an injured 71-year old Oregon man to the hospital — after the driver right-hooked him — then stuck him with an $1,862 bill for the ride; now he’s suing them for a cool million bucks.

More proof Americans want safer streets, as Seattle is on the verge of approving a transportation levy to provide nearly a half-billion dollars for Vision Zero, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements, by the same two-thirds margin that LA’s Measure HLA passed with.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 80-year old Massachusetts woman says she’s not ready to give up bicycling 80 miles a week, despite her doctor’s advice following a fall.

Influencer Matt Choi has been banned for life from the New York Marathon, after finishing the course in under three hours while flanked by two riders on ebikes recording his run; they were accused of blocking other people competing in the race.

 

International

Bike Magazine lists the top ten North American cities for mountain biking.

A London writer goes from budding bike theft reporter to tracking down his own stolen bike, thanks to an Air Tag.

An editor for Cycling Weekly says banning bicycles from city centers, like Birmingham, England is doing, won’t stop illegal ebike use, but it will make it harder for everyone else.

Finally a reasonable sentence from the UK, where a stoned hit-and-run driver who killed a 59-year old man riding a bicycle was sentenced to a well-deserved six years and eight months behind bars.

Britain’s National Health Service will review its guidelines for prostate cancer testing, after Olympic cycling champ Sir Chris Hoy said younger men should be tested to prevent cases like his terminal cancer diagnosis.

A couple reporters for NPR visit Beijing from a seat of their bicycles.

Australia’s National Territory wants to tell you about five great bike rides in Canberra, for your next visit Down Under.

 

Competitive Cycling

Forty-year old four-time Tour de France champ Chris Froome says he’s coming back next year to give it one more try.

 

Finally…

If you’re carrying meth and drug paraphernalia on your bike, put a damn light on it — the bike, not the meth. Now you, too, can build your own pointlessly long mountain bike requiring rope reins to ride.

And nothing like a bridge designed to “enable sustainable transport and reduce car use,” which bans bicycles anyway.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Climate change sucks more than traffic, no progress on broken Braude bike path, and get a grand from Uber not to drive

June 28, 2024 / / One comment
Just 186 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

My apologies for the late appearance of yesterday’s post. My site went down just as I was about to publish it, so I wasn’t able to get it online until my web host got it working again in the morning. 

You can catch up here if you missed it. 

………

He gets it.

The climate columnist for the Los Angeles Times says yes, sitting in traffic sucks, but climate change sucks a lot more.

Talking about California Governor Newsom’s head-scratching decisions to approve projects that can only exacerbate climate change despite his forward-leaning public posture in fighting the onrushing climate emergency — including approval of a half-billion-dollar freeway widening project on I-80 between Sacramento and Davis — Sammy Roth writes this,

But the common thread is this: Instead of putting carbon at the center of his decision-making — which is what one of the world’s most powerful politicians should be doing just about every time — Newsom is treating climate like most other political issues.

Some days he and his team are taking groundbreaking steps to phase out gasoline cars; other days they’re expanding freeways, and failing to fully protect people from extreme heat because they’re worried it would be too expensive, and making it harder to install batteries. They’re letting politics play far too large a role in the risk-reward calculation, to all of our detriment.

He goes on to conclude this way (although it should be noted that electrification will do nothing to reduce induced demand or traffic congestion),

Hopefully over time, as we get more electric cars on the road, “induced demand” from highway expansions will become less of a problem, because more of the cars sitting in traffic will be powered by solar and wind. But for now, state officials have made very clear — in theory, not in practice — that electrification isn’t enough. We also need to start driving less. California’s formal climate plan sets targets of reducing “vehicle miles traveled” by 25% per person by 2030, and 30% by 2045.

That means we’ll need to spend more time walking, biking and taking trains and other public transit — and more money building infrastructure to support those modes of transit. So why is Newsom wasting nearly half a billion dollars widening a freeway when the result will be more smog-spewing traffic, more climate pollution and less money for the stuff we actually need?

It’s worth a read.

Because while Newsom presents himself as a leader in fighting the effects and causes of climate change, his actions often paint a far different picture.

And it’s up to us to make sure he lives up to his word.

………

The Santa Monica Mirror reports that nearly five months after an atmospheric river washed out the beachfront Marvin Braude bike path between Chautauqua Blvd and Entrada Drive, nothing has been done to repair it.

As in, nothing.

Compare that to the emergency repairs that fixed the collapsed I-10 Freeway in DTLA in less than two weeks following a devastating fire at a storage facility under the elevated highway.

Which means the estimated 10,000 people who use the path every day have faced a truncated trail that ends far short of the former terminus at Will Rogers State Beach. And bike riders have been forced onto a particularly dangerous section of PCH through Pacific Palisades if they want to continue north towards Malibu.

The paper says LA County, which is responsible for that portion of the trail, hopes to have a schedule for repairs next month.

LA County Public Works hopes to have a concrete schedule for repairs by mid-July; the cost of which is estimated at $800,000, according to a spokesperson with the department.

“LA County Public Works engineers continue to finalize the repair design for the Marvin Braude Bike Trail at Will Rogers State Beach.” read a statement from the department. “The California Coastal Commission is currently reviewing the project.”

Note that they’re only promising a schedule for repair work, rather than actually beginning — let alone completing — the long overdue repairs.

And we’ll excuse their unintended pun of promising a “concrete schedule” for fixing the concrete pathway.

………

Need a little extra cash?

Uber will pay you $1,000 if you agree not to drive for five weeks, and walk, bike, ride public transit or use ride-hailing services instead.

Like Uber, for instance.

The company will select 175 people to participate in the “One Less Car” challenge; it’s open to residents of Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Miami, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver.

I’d toss my hat in the ring, but something tells me they’re not looking for people like me who are already carless.

………

It’s now 190 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

Local 

More proof that bikes can be lifesavers in an emergency. A young boy in Valencia was able to escape an alleged kidnapping attempt at a local pool by riding away from the suspect on his bicycle; sheriff’s deputies are looking for the man who followed the kid before he got away.

 

State

An estimated 15,000 people are expected to turn out for the Huntington Beach 4th of July Bike Cruise tomorrow, held annually on the Saturday before the 4th.

San Diego officially broke ground on the $25 million, 3.5-mile Imperial Avenue Bikeway.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for the owner of a white, adult Giant bicycle with a black rear rack, which was recovered when they arrested a 14-year old boy on animal abuse charges while he was riding the bike. He’s accused of killing chickens. In other words, murder most fowl.

The seemingly uninformed editor of a Palo Alto paper says putting bike lanes on the city’s Camino Real will hurt small businesses, arguing that car traffic is essential to their success. Which ignores repeated studies that show bike lanes are good for business, and the increased retail sales that result from them tend to more than make up for the loss of any parking.

Bad news from Northern California, where an allegedly lightless bike rider was killed by a pickup driver in an early morning crash in tiny Colfax.

 

National

Cycling West reposts a recent US university study showing ebike incentive programs are a costly way to cut emissions, but also promote health, equity and cleaner air.

REI is recalling their Co-op Cycles REV 12 Kids Bikes due to the risk the training wheels could detach and cause a fall.

A new bike park broke ground in Lahaina, Hawaii, offering fresh hope to young residents after last year’s devastating fires.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole two bikes in Eugene, Oregon from participants in the Texas 4000 charity ride; 25 people are riding from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska to raise funds for cancer research and support services.

Streetsblog Chicago talks with photographer and longtime city resident Vicktor Köves, creator of Chicagoans Who Bike, about his ongoing visual essay depicting the wide range of people who ride bicycles in the city.

The New York Times considers the consequences of New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s shortsighted decision to put congestion pricing in Manhattan on indefinite hold, after complaints from a handful of diner customers.

Baltimore baseball fans are forming a group to ride to Oriole games together. Which is what happens when a team actually encourages bicycling to their games, unlike a certain Dodger team we could name.

 

International

Frequent contributor Megan Lynch forwards news that bicycling giant Specialized is accused of owing Salvadoran apparel workers over $650,000 in unpaid wages and severance a year and a half after they lost their jobs.

There’s not a pit deep enough for the London cop accused of stealing cash from the body of an Italian filmmaker who died of a heart attack while riding his bike.

Twenty-two-year old English soccer player Anthony Gordon is one of us, becoming the butt of jokes in training camp when he fell off his bicycle two days after making his international debut with the team. Because apparently, grown men aren’t supposed to ride bikes, or crash them. Or maybe just not English footballers. 

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 86-year old British man is Everesting on a trainer in his back yard in memory of his late wife — 60 years after he crashed on a rain-slicked road near the finish line, and lost out on making the podium with the legendary Eddy Merckx in the 64 Tokyo Olympics.

Munich correspondent Ralph Durham sends news that the rich are getting richer, as the city nears completion of a spoke-and-hub bikeway network leading to the city center, with the red pathways on the map approved, and the blue already completed — although you may have to read German, or at least rely on a translation app to read the story.

A German columnist celebrates the “lightness of being a cyclist” after getting back on her bike, a year after breaking her elbow going over the handlebars.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo looks at the current status of the leading contenders for this year’s Tour de France, which begins tomorrow, including Tadej Pogačar’s admission that he recently had Covid, but he “recovered good.”

Hats off to 14-year old Santa Cruz, California mountain biker Nathan Peterson, who is winning cross-country races while riding his grandfather’s rebuilt 1994 Merlin Mountain.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your local bike path is the world’s worst, and people are using it anyway. Every decent bike trail should have at least one good brewery along the way.

And yes, Biden may have fallen off his bicycle, but at least he rides one.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

SaMo approves bicycle anti-harassment ordinance, Brit press demonizes bicyclists, and Wilmington CicLAmini Sunday

May 17, 2024 / / One comment
Just 228 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

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

We’ve made it up to 1,134 signatures, so don’t stop now! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until she agrees to meet with us! 

………

It took awhile, but LA’s bicyclist anti-harassment ordinance is finally starting to spread elsewhere in Los Angeles County.

The Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved an ordinance prohibiting harassment of bicyclists, while providing a private right of action for violations in civil court.

They also clarified that the law applies to both human-powered and ped-assist ebikes — but evidently, not throttle-controlled ebikes.

According to Santa Monica City Attorney Doug Sloan,

“Defining activities would prohibit physically assaulting or attempting to physically assault bicyclists because of their status of a bicyclist, threatening to physically injure a cyclist, threatening to physically injure, including by road, cyclists because of being a cyclist. intentionally distracting or attempting to distract a cyclist, intentionally forcing or attempting to enforce a bicyclist off the street or bike lane,” Sloan said.

“It’s important to note that these are purely civil remedies,” he said before clarifying that this does not require city resources to enforce this — it is not criminal. So an aggrieved individual can bring a civil action against the perpetrator. It can include if they’re liable for damages for three times heir actual damage for each violation or $1,000, whichever is greater. Moreover, they can recover attorney fees and potentially punitive damages.

“It expressly says it does not constitute a misdemeanor or infraction. And that’s essentially it,” he said.

That last part is important, because it means a cop doesn’t need to witness the violation, or ticket the driver or file charges.

However, the same problems that have limited the Los Angeles ordinance would likely limit this one, as well.

Unless you record the violation on a bike cam or cellphone, it’s difficult to gather witnesses or other evidence to offer proof of what happened.

And even with the provision for legal fees, it’s hard to find a lawyer who will take a case without the possibility of substantial damages, because the amount of work required doesn’t usually make it worth their time.

Still, it’s a move towards holding dangerous, aggressive and road-raging drivers accountable.

Let’s just hope it spreads to the other 86 cities in LA County.

………

No bias here.

The British press continued its demonization of “killer bicyclists” in the wake of a new law imposing a sentence of up to 14 years for killing someone by dangerous, careless or inconsiderate bicycling.

Which is seven years more than motorists face for a similar crime.

The London Telegraph lifted their paywall to breathlessly share a story about “reckless” bicyclists chasing Strava coms — including one person reportedly riding 52 mph in a 20 mph zone, which would be a world record speed.

A columnist for Express says it’s about time London’s “Lycra-clad maniacs” were forced to abide by the rules of the road, including such “trivialities” as traffic lights and crosswalks. Never mind that British bike riders are already subject to most of the same rules drivers are.

However, former Olympic gold medalist, Hour Record holder, and current National Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman puts it in perspective.

https://twitter.com/Boenau/status/1791191381446148550

………

Don’t miss Sunday’s CicLAmini open streets event in Wilmington this Sunday. The weather should be cool, dry and partly cloudy, so it should be comfortable whether you’re riding, skating or walking.

https://twitter.com/CaltransDist7/status/1791227045793481121

………

GCN considers whether Classified’s new Powershift hub could spell the end of front derailleurs, after it was used by the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team during the Giro’s individual time trial.

………

It’s now 149 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 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.

Once again, a British bike rider has been pushed off his bike by some jackass in a passing car when the passenger in a BMW leaned out the window and knocked a man in his 40s off his bicycle, and suffered a broken shoulder, cuts and bruises.

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

A bike rider in Singapore was fined the equivalent of $163 for running a red light while a mother was in the crosswalk pushing her child in a stroller.

………

Local 

A new Caltrans plan to rebuild and widen Lincoln Boulevard — otherwise known as PCH — where it crosses Ballona Creek will include new sidewalks and protected bike lanes, along with lighting, landscaping and signage.

The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition and city Arts and Culture staffers will host a Pasadena Public Art Bike Ride tomorrow morning.

 

State

He gets it. A writer for the Thousand Oaks Acorn says “Bicycling instead of driving is a great way to reduce traffic, cut pollution, and save energy while contributing to California’s climate goals.”

The Big Bear bike parks will be opening in the next few weeks, with Snow Valley Bike Park opening weekends beginning May 24th, and Summit Bike Park opening daily on June 7th.

Pleasanton seniors discuss bike safety, amid concerns that a lack of safe infrastructure will keep older people from biking.

Mission Local shares photos from San Francisco’s Ride of Silence.

San Francisco Mayor Breed promises protected bike lanes in front of City Hall, even if “some supervisors have to give up their parking spaces.”

No bias here, either. A pair of writers for El Tecolote complain about the San Francisco MTA’s approval a $1.5 million contract with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to provide bicycle education for the next five years — which works out to just $300,000 a year — saying it “frees the Bicycle Coalition to hire a phalanx of lobbyists to influence city policy with Supervisors, commissioners, and city staff in all departments.”

Sonoma County is being sued by a woman who suffered a broken neck when she hit a pothole on her bike, on the same street where another woman was seriously injured hitting another pothole ten years earlier.

 

National

If you missed yesterday’s Bike to Work/Bike to Wherever Day, you may still have time to catch it today in New York or Seattle.

Seriously? ABC network officials are reportedly mad that Good Morning America 3 host DeMarco Morgan posted an Instagram photo wearing “skin-tight bike shorts” that “doesn’t leave much to the imagination.” Except he’s actually wearing a very normal bike jersey and padded bike shorts that leave about as much to the imagination as any other spandex-clad bicyclist. 

A self-described “car guy” swapped his four wheeler for an e-cargo bike for a week, and ended up rethinking what cars are really for.

Boise, Idaho intends to become the next bicycle capital of America. Although they may have to get in line behind all the other cities with the same aspirations. 

Idaho bicyclists got donuts and French pastries for Bike to School and Work Day. Meanwhile, LA bike riders got squat.

If you build it, they will come. After going a bike lane building binge in recent years, Chicago has doubled the number of bike trips over the past five years, with the greatest increase on the city’s South Side.

 

International

Hundreds of people turned out for a two-wheeled rave through the streets of Victoria, British Columbia.

Tragic news from the UK, where a “fit and active” 80-year old man died after falling from his bike following an “incident” with a van, after he was forced to ride close to the roadway when debris in the bike path narrowed it to just two feet wide; an inspector looked at the path just weeks before his death, and said it looked just hunky dory.

An Irish advocacy group rightfully complains that less than 350 drivers were fined for parking in bike lanes throughout the entire country in one recent year.

Mobility Outlook talks with the Head of Brand for India’s Hero Cycles, which it says is helping reshape the evolving bicycling culture in India with their ebikes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time former world champ Julian Alaphilippe won the 12th stage of the Giro on Thursday in a solo breakaway; leader Tadej Pogačar finished in the main pack to hold on to the pink jersey.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could pay tribute to Vincent van Van Gogh — cutting off your ear is optional. Your next super-ebike mountain bike could be a McLaren, yes, that McLaren.

And there’s a new AI sheriff in town to keep you from cheating on your KOMs.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Santa Monica offers ebike rebates, while California’s ebike voucher program goes nearly 3 years with no progress

May 1, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 244 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

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

We’re up to 1,129 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Photo by Maxfoot from Pixabay.

………

Well, that was fun. 

What was supposed to be the quick and easy removal of a small skin cancer on my ear turned into an excruciating five hours on the surgical table, scraping every half hour before they got the whole thing. 

All because every doctor I asked about it told me it was nothing to worry about, allowing it to spread unchecked for over a decade before anyone actually bothered to do a biopsy. 

But at least I left with my ear still attached, albeit lacking most of the skin inside, and with a bandage the size of a golf ball shoved in.

Which leads to today’s hard-earned life lesson. 

Just wear some damn sunscreen, already. 

………

It’s now 133 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Unfortunately, Washington state is following California’s lead, with no set launch date for their ebike voucher program a year after it was approved.

Meanwhile, Santa Monica will provide ebike rebates up to $2,000 for 90 low and moderate income residents.

Denver, which started it all, saw its latest round of ebike vouchers claimed in just three minutes, with over 8,200 ebike vouchers redeemed so far.

Even tiny Basalt, Colorado — population 4,062 — is offering residents a $500 ebike rebate, while Minnesota will provide rebates up to $1,500 on ebikes and accessories.

………

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

Even the ungulates are out to get us, after two people riding a tandem bike were taken out by a deer near the entrance to Zion National Park.

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

Adding insult to injury — literally — a 58-year old Valdosta, Georgia man will face charges for causing a traffic collision by abruptly turning directly in front of a pickup. As usual, the charges will be based strictly on the driver’s perspective, since the victim was found unresponsive and unable to give his side of the story.

………

Local 

LA Progressive calls for the defeat of incumbent CD14 Councilmember Kevin de Leon, in part for cutting off communication with community leaders over the $16.3 million in funding raised by local residents for street improvements on Eagle Rock Blvd, allowing the project to go dormant for two years.

Santa Monica will conduct yet another bike & pedestrian safety enforcement operation on Friday, ticketing anyone who commits a violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits to ensure you’re not the one who gets ticketed. 

 

State

Streetsblog celebrates Bike Month with events throughout California.

San Diego police will are looking for a hit-and-run driver who fled after striking a homeless father of five, who died nearly a month after he was run down while walking in a Balboa Park bike lane.

A Santa Maria bike club for kids now has 110 riders and more than 50 coaches, eight years after it was founded by three mothers and their kids.

The organizers of the Bay Area Bike to Wherever Days named their Bike Champions for the nine Bay Area counties, recognizing some of the area’s top bike advocates.

A Marin County Grand Jury is calling on local governments to strictly regulate ebikes and ban kids under 16 from riding throttle-controlled Class 2 bikes — even though that conflicts with existing state law.

 

National

A writer for Cnet says riding an ebike for a year not only saved him money, but changed his life.

Craig Medred takes a deep dive into the death of a 48-year old Alaska man who was reportedly among the area’s “safest and most responsible cyclists,” yet who was blamed by investigators for his own death, despite doing everything right before he was run down by a driver — because police couldn’t find the missing bike light they may not have looked for.

A Michigan man is turning his pain into advocacy, calling for a redesign of the bike lane he was riding in when he was struck by a driver leaving a Taco Bell drive-thru.

A Kentucky TV station answers the eternal question of why bicyclists don’t have to pay a road usage fee — and gets it mostly right. Although they left out a) local roads are funded primarily through the same state and local taxes we all pay, and b) most people who ride bikes also drive, and pay gas taxes and registration like anyone else.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts city council narrowly approved a plan to delay completing a 25-mile network of separated bike lanes by one year, in order to gather more data on how they will affect local businesses. Although the best way to study their effects would be to build them on a trial basis and see what happens.

 

International

Momentum rates the “seven best and most affordable” commuter bikes for spring.

It’s Bike Month in Colombia, too.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list. A new 435-mile elevated, tree-top level bikeway through the Italian countryside, leading to a 16th Century UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Italy.

 

Competitive Cycling

An Egyptian woman is being accused of assault after forcing another woman to the side of the road during the final stretch of country’s Women’s National Cycling Championship, then using her bike and hands to knock her off her bike.

Twenty-three-year old Jamaican chocolate maker Llori Sharpe is honing her crit skills with LA-based L39ION of Los Angeles, the first Jamaican cyclist to ride for a UCI road team.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be a four-wheeled, pedal-operated ebike capable of hauling a whopping 800 pounds. Or an ebike that can quickly convert from a cargo bike to an e-rickshaw.

And now you, too can have your very own Bob Marley One Love bike, a collaboration between State Bicycle Company and the reggae master who’s been dead for the last 43 years.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Live to Ride book signing in SaMo this Sunday, Balboa Park bike lane cleanup, and a Bill Nighy thanks for stopping

April 18, 2024 / / Comments Off on Live to Ride book signing in SaMo this Sunday, Balboa Park bike lane cleanup, and a Bill Nighy thanks for stopping
Just 258 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

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

We’re now up to 1,117 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

………

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.

Suddenly becoming a full-time caregiver for my unexpectedly incapacitated wife and her broken shoulder, while simultaneously attempting to maintain this site and care for my own torn rotator cuff, is totally kicking my diabetic ass. 

I honestly don’t know how I’m going to make it through the next few months before we both get back on our feet. But we’ll get there somehow. 

………

Take a break from Sunday’s Venice CicLAvia for a book signing with Peter Flax, author of Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle at the Rapha Clubhouse in Santa Monica. 

Or better yet, make that the first stop of the day for coffee and a social ride with the author, the former editor-in-chief of Bicycling Magazine, and one of the most talented, insightful and beautiful voices in the bicycling community.

And if you haven’t bought your copy yet, what the hell are you waiting for?

………

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, is marking Earth Day with a much-needed cleanup of the bike lane in Balboa Park.

………

That feeling when Bill Nighy thanks you for stopping at a red light.

………

It’s now 119 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 34 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

The LAPD is on the lookout for bike-riding teenaged flash mobs who swarm retail stores to steal merchandise, before disappearing on their bicycles.

A Singapore lawyer suggests a road-raging bicyclist may not have been responsible for her actions because she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, shortly after she stopped her bicycle in front of a driver’s car to confront him, opened the door to his car and clung to his hood.

………

Local 

The LA Times examines South LA’s new 250-bike ebike lending library.

CicLAvia recommends highlights from this Sunday’s open streets event on Venice Blvd.

Alyssa Walker’s new blog examines the abject failure of LA’s 28 by 28 plan to develop 28 major transit, pedestrian and bike projects in time for the 2028 Olympics.

Montebello’s City Council unanimously approved the Citywide Bicycle Master Plan, as well as the 2040 Citywide General Plan and the city’s Downtown Specific Plan. Although as we’ve learned the hard way, it’s one thing to pass a bike plan, and another to actually implement it.

Santa Clarita is preparing for its 20th annual Bike to Work Challenge as part of next month’s Bike Week, with a city pit stop on May 16. Although no one seems to give a damn about it down here in Los Angeles anymore. 

The Santa Monica-based developers of a noseless and bumpless bike seat that’s “changing the lives of cyclists” walked away from Shark Tank with a $200,000 deal, in exchange for a quarter of the company.

Today is the deadline to apply for Long Beach’s new ebike lending library.

 

State

Pinkbike says you should give a shit about this weekend’s Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, and other bike festivals. Actually, they coyly said “give a sh!t,” but whatever.

Officials announced that a new 72-mile trail from Truckee and Nevada City in the Tahoe National Forest will be open to ebikes.

 

National

Discerning Cyclist recalls the day in 1899 when “Mile-a-Minute Murphy” outraced a train on his bicycle.

Bike shop owners recommend their picks for the best affordable bikes for casual riders, from a $249 beach cruiser to an ebike for two grand.

Fox News ungrammatically suggests “20 bikes for every type of bike rider,” from daily riders to competitive cyclists. Assuming you’re willing to get laughed off the starting line by showing up at your next race on a $379.00 Walmart bike.

Bicycling talks with Matthew Modine about what he learned about bicycling while making the new movie Hard Miles, about a cycling team at a medium-security correctional school. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you. 

Women shopping at a New Mexico bike shop were victimized by a 21-year old store employee who secretly recorded them in the changing room.

Three Oklahoma men finished a 600-mile bike tour to visit each of the 13 remaining Black towns founded by former slaves after the Civil War.

Life is cheap in Minnesota, where a 28-year old man with an extensive record of driving without a license got a lousy five months behind bars, after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide for killing a 73-year old Catholic priest who was riding a bicycle on the shoulder of a roadway.

That’s more like it. A Kentucky man faces a murder charge, along with wanton endangerment and DUI charges, for fleeing the scene after killing a 39-year old woman riding a bicycle, but apparently escape hit-and-run charges by calling the cops to turn himself in shortly later.

A New York man credits his Apple Watch with saving his life by automatically dialing 911 after his bike hit a rain-filled pothole.

 

International

Road.cc suggests low-cost alternatives to expensive bicycling gear.

Momentum offers ten “amazing” examples of bicycling solutions from cities around the world, from a glowing bike path to a bikeway soaring through the trees. None of which are in Los Angeles. Or North America, even.

The rich get richer, as Toronto is set to get a veritable shipload of new bike lanes in the coming months. I learned very early in my advertising career that “shipload” doesn’t work in a radio ad, because everyone will inevitably hear it as something similar, but more offensive. 

Bike theft was down 15% in the UK last year, despite a doubling of ebike thefts.

Despite a lane reduction on one of Brussels, Belgium’s busiest streets, it continues to give little space to anyone outside of a car.

Sleek new Swiss-made bike elevators in Bonn, Germany are designed to securely store bicycles near train stations with a minimal footprint.

 

Competitive Cycling

British cyclist Stephen Williams became the first Flèche Wallonne winner from the UK on Wednesday, battling snow for a first-place finish atop the Mur de Huy.

Double Tour de France champ Jonas Vingegaard has been released from hospital, 12 days after he suffered a broken collarbone, multiple broken ribs, a pulmonary contusion and pneumothorax in a mass crash during the Tour de Suisse.

Former Tour de France champ Geraint Thomas says WorldTour cyclists are exasperated by UCI’s lack of safety improvements, saying nothing has changed since Swiss cyclist Gino Mäder was killed during last year’s Tour de Suisse.

Seventy-eight-year old cycling legend Eddy Merckx is recovering at home after emergency surgery to have a bowel obstruction removed.

Belt-drive maker Gates is offering 100,000 euros — the equivalent of nearly $107,000 — to the first person who wins a Wold Cup downhill race using a belt-drive bike.

 

Finally…

Why sleep on the ground on your next bike tour when you can tow your very own bike camper trailer? When you’re riding with an outstanding arrest warrant and illicit drugs, don’t ride salmon through a red light — and don’t try to outrun the Mounties, either.

And seriously, who doesn’t enjoy riding through puddles?

……... 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Urge SaMo council to expand bike network, LA’s bad drivers nowhere near worst, and Measure HLA tops the news

February 27, 2024 / / One comment
Just 308 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. Just 6 signatures to go to reach 1,000! 

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BikeLA Chapter Santa Monica Spoke is calling on you to reach out to the Santa Monica City Council before their meeting tonight, to urge them to support safer streets and Vision Zero.

Tuesday Feb 27th Santa Monica City Council will hear the City Manager Report – on the Bike Action Plan and a Vision Zero Update — Special Item 3B on the Agenda.

Please join us with an email to Council TODAY voicing your support for more protected bike lanes (support the Bike Action Plan Amendment) and to support our city’s commitment to Vision Zero — to protect vulnerable road users, like people walking and biking, with streets designed to be safer for everyone.

Easy one click email — please do add your comments and personal stories if you can!

Or use this “copy and paste / template” send to:

Re: Item 3B City Manager Report – Bike Action Plan and Vision Zero Update.

Dear Santa Monica Mayor, City Council and City Manager:

I support the City’s commitment to safer streets and more protected bike lanes. Please prioritize improving bike and pedestrian infrastructure and Vision Zero. The City must continue the overwhelming community supported commitment to prioritize and protect vulnerable road users, like people walking and biking, with more protected bike lanes and streets designed to be safer for everyone.

Please support and prioritize safer streets!

Then if you’re not doing anything tonight, show up at the meeting to show your support.

Or if you are, even.

https://twitter.com/MobilityForWho/status/1762275772419768650

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Shockingly, Los Angeles barely makes the American Top 40 of the nation’s worst drivers, a list topped by Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Clearly, the experts at Forbes have never driven the streets of LA.

In fact, nowhere in California ranked near the top, despite the state’s notoriously bad drivers.

  • 22. Fresno
  • 34. Long Beach
  • 37. Los Angeles
  • 42. San Diego
  • 49. San Francisco

No, really.

Clearly, we all need to email them to demand a recount, or send in a fake slate of electors. Or something.

Because on any list of America’s worst drivers, Los Angeles should be #1 with a bullet.

Literally, sometimes.

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Measure HLA continues to dominate Los Angeles news, as LA Times Letter’s Editor Paul Thornton says the hysteria over bike lanes shows exactly why Measure HLA is needed.

But a letter writer in the Times insists that if you build it, they won’t come, because she somehow doesn’t see any bike riders or buses on the newly expanded Venice Blvd bus and bikeways.

Meanwhile, a Los Angeles-based composer bizarrely urges a vote against HLA because it would “only” implement 300 miles of bus lanes, even though the mobility plan it’s based on features bus lanes on nearly every major street.

And a writer for LA Progressive insists HLA somehow won’t work because of US military spending in Ukraine and Gaza, and because HLA ignores connectivity — even though it’s based on LA’s nine-year old Mobility Plan 2035, which contains three separate but interconnected bike networks, which the city would be forced to build out as streets are resurfaced.

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I want to be like them when I grow up.

Used bike retailer The Pro’s Closet talks with soon-to-be 80-year old Wendy Skean, who raced wheel-to-wheel against much younger riders at the “outrageously cold and muddy” Old Man Winter Rally, where she finished 50th out of 237 women in the 50K event. And in her first-ever race, no less.

Cycling Weekly talks with 76-year old Brit Geoff Nelder, who still averages riding 100 miles a week in winter and 200 in summer, helping him overcome three coronary stents ten years ago.

Or maybe not, as a 73-year old man was killed while riding his bike in a Thai hit-and-run.

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It’s now 69 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 31 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.

Good question. Escape Collective takes up the burning question of how to get drivers to finally recognize that people on bicycles are human, too.

Someone working with the Department of DIY took matters into their own hands, and added traffic diverters to finally fulfill the New York mayor’s promise to finish work on the street.

A UK sociologist considers why so many people are so triggered by the simple act of riding a bicycle.

After a British bike rider reported a driver for using his cellphone behind the wheel, police took immediate action — threatening to charge the guy on the bicycle after incorrectly concluding the helmet cam video he submitted to them showed him riding on the wrong side of the road.

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

A Wisconsin petition calls off-trail mountain biking a threat to the red headed woodpecker population.

A New York thief took advantage of the added mobility of the city’s Citi Bike bikeshare to rob four people in Central Park in just under an hour, telling one victim “I rob people for a living.” I mean, you’d hate to see an amateur who doesn’t know what he’s doing attempting a feat like that.

Apparently, bike theft is just an “oopsie” now, after a Korean high school student admitted to “mistakenly” stealing a bicycle to support his siblings, after his mother’s illness.

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Local 

This is who we share the road with. Wealthy socialite and Grossman Burn Center co-founder Rebecca Grossman faces 34 to life after she was convicted of murder in the high-speed hit-and-run deaths of two young brothers crossing a Westlake Village street with their family in 2020.

LADOT is teaming with CicLAvia to highlight the new protected bike lanes and safety features on Reseda Blvd for four short hours on St. Paddy’s Day. And to prove just how well they work, they’ll still let drivers and their cars use the street.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers his typically great photos capturing the essence of Sunday’s Melrose CicLAvia.

 

State

More on Costa Mesa’s $7.9 million grant from the Orange County Transportation Authority’s Complete Streets program, which will fund Class I bike trail, and two Class IV fully separated bike lanes. Thanks to Richard Duquette for the heads-up. 

San Diego belatedly begins work on a two-way protected bikeway on Balboa Park’s Pershing Drive, nearly three years after noted architect Laura Shinn was killed by a stoned driver.

The Toronto Star tours Santa Barbara’s American Riviera, where everything is a “quick walk, bike or public transit ride” away.

Bakersfield residents get new ebikes through the city’s loan-to-own ebike program.

Velo examines why everyone is freaking out about San Francisco’s center-running Valencia Street bike lane.

A Redwood City site compares university towns Davis and Palo Alto, proclaiming there can only be self-proclaimed California “Bicycle Capital.” Although fellow university city Long Beach would like to have a word.

 

National

A Portland man faces charges for the alleged DUI death of a homeless man on a bicycle; the driver ran away on foot, but was detained by community members after someone fired a shot.

Bicyclists in Goodyear, Arizona turned out for a rally to remember the victims of last year’s crash that killed two people and hospitalized 17 others when a pickup driver plowed into — or rather, through — a group ride; no charges have been filed after the local DA said it was just an “oopsie.”

Elderly Denver residents say a new protected bike lane is an accident waiting to happen, after an 82-year old man broke his hip tripping over a bike lane bumper getting out of a friend’s truck.

That’s more like it. Wichita, Kansas will host a bike ride for city council members to examine the condition of the city’s bikeways, after complaints they have become unrideable due to homeless encampments and broken glass.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole $5,000 worth of ebike and gear from an Oklahoma City bike nonprofit.

Just because you’re a disgraced, seven-times ex-Tour de France champ doesn’t mean you can’t get honored by a bikeway in your Austin, Texas hometown.

A Tallahassee, Florida man is back on his bike and filing suit against the city cop who hit him last year, leaving him with a broken femur and jaw, and multiple fractured ribs and vertebrae.

 

International

The Robb Report highlights luxury biking tours where you can ride alongside your favorite cycling stars. Before they drop you like Freshman English, that is.

A Vancouver Lime Bike only appears to roll on water.

That’s more like it. A British driver will spend the next 12 and a half years behind bars, after he was convicted of hitting a bike rider head-on while racing another driver.

Momentum offers a look at Europe’s best spring cycling destinations for nature-loving bicyclists. Which is not the same as naturist-loving bicyclists.

In other case of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late, an unlicensed driver in Ghent, Belgium faces charges for the alleged drunken crash that killed two people riding their bikes and injured three others, when he plowed into a group riding together; the driver had the equivalent of 14 cocktails in his blood, despite two previous drunk driving bans.

The Netherlands has ordered a recall of Babboe cargo bikes, alleging the company has not provided the necessary safety information.

In a surprise to no one, China’s Xinhua says access to bicycles improves the lives of women and girls in rural Zambia.

The Philippines’ Bike Scouts are pushing the nation towards a bottom-up approach to natural disasters.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo says Jonas Vingegaard Hansen could win this year’s Tour de France, after the Danish two-time Tour champ added his wife’s surname, sans hyphen; Vingegaard swept all three stages of Spain’s O Gran Camino to win the GC.

The magazine also celebrates Butch Martin, who became the first Black American Olympic cyclist in both road cycling and track at the Tokyo and Mexico City Olympic Games.

In a Velo trifecta, the magazine relates the “most insane bike change in pro cycling history” when Aussie Michael Rogers swapped his bike for a fan’s nearly identical bike after his derailleur broke off midrace in the Tour Down Under.

US women’s cycling team Cynisca was suspended for illegally dressing a bike mechanic in the team kit to pose as a cyclist, because they didn’t have enough riders to complete in Belgium’s Argenta Classic last year.

Retired major league baseball All Star Carlos Gómez is on track to become the first indoor track cyclist to represent the Dominican Republic in the summer Olympics.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have no idea you just crashed a Belgian bike race. Or when a winter bike ride means coming home sheathed in ice.

And Finish the Ride is finally getting serious, adding a corgi-endorsed puppy run to April’s two-day Griffith Park event.

Our corg sez she’s all in, as long as there are treats involved. And she doesn’t actually have to, you know, run.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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