A couple quick notes before we get started.
First, thanks for all the kind words and well wishes following my surgery. Things seem to have gone well and are progressing nicely; I have nearly full use of my left hand again, which is more than I could say before the operation.
We have a lot to catch up on. I’ll get through as much as I can today, and try to finish up over the next few days. Including the failed rollout of an innovative San Diego street design.
And my sincere thanks to everyone who sent in tips while I was out, especially for the story below. There’s just too many people to thank everyone individually this time, let alone keep track of.
But I’m truly grateful for all your help.
Fractured bike helmet photo by WikimediaImages from Pixabay.
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Heartbreaking and infuriating news from Utah, where two California brothers riding in the Spring Tour of St. George were killed Saturday when an allegedly stoned woman drove into the bike lane they were riding in.
The woman reportedly failed all the field sobriety tests and admitted to being on a cocktail of medications, including fentanyl, after being admitted to the hospital the day before.
However, she claimed she lost control because she was “uncontrollably” shitting her pants as she was driving. And continued driving after striking the victims because she couldn’t get the car to stop until the badly damaged engine gave out several hundred yards away.
Sure. That could happen.
The victims were found unresponsive, and died later at a local hospital.
There’s no information on their names, or where they’re from in California. However, rumors are circulating that at least one was a popular rider from the Los Angeles area.
Let’s pray it isn’t true.
Forty-seven-year old Julie Ann Budge faces two counts of negligent vehicular homicide, as well as double hit-and-run and DUI charges for the two needless deaths. Hopefully they hosed her down before booking her.
It’s also worth noting that this is the same Utah town where NBA star Shawn Bradley was paralyzed when he was rear-ended on his bike by a driver rushing to pick up their kids at school.
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Family members are asking for help finding an elderly Mexican man who disappeared while riding a bicycle in Long Beach nearly two weeks ago.
Manuel Aboyte was last seen stopping for lottery tickets at a Circle K gas station in North Long Beach on March 30th.
The 74-year old resident of Sinaloa de Leyva was in the city visiting his sister, who was suffering from illness, and was hospitalized just before he disappeared.
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Noted media critic Eric Boehlert was one of us.
Sadly though, Boehlert was killed when he was struck by a train while riding his bike in Montclair, New Jersey last Monday evening.
The 57-year old made a career out of calling out right-wing misinformation while writing for Media Matters for America, Salon, Daily Kos and as the founder of the Press Run website.
He was also the author of Lapdogs: How The Press Rolled Over For Bush, and Bloggers on the Bus: How The Internet Changed Politics and the Press.
There’s no word on whether he rode around a railroad crossing barrier, or if it was an uncontrolled crossing or if the crash happened some other way.
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Buena Park needs your input on a proposed Complete Streets project this Thursday.
https://twitter.com/mikeocbike/status/1512506209336659968
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Costa Mesa wants a minute of your time — no, literally — to introduce a new bollard-protected bike lane, as they work to install “high-quality bicycling facilities” throughout the city.
Although as we’ve seen in Los Angeles, a bike lane isn’t really protected if the bollards are spaced widely enough for drivers to park in it.
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This seems like a good time for a reminder that yellow traffic signs are advisory, and don’t carry the force of law.
Although you’ll definitely get blamed if something goes wrong after you ignore one.
https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1513205968649089024
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Well, it’s true.
https://twitter.com/thejoshhare/status/1511791294774972424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1511791294774972424%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-8-april-2022-291777
You can get yours here. I did.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
There’s a warrant out for a Milwaukee woman who pulled off a rare double flight from justice, first by fleeing the scene after killing a bike rider, then disappearing while out on bail after her arrest.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A 32-year old Milwaukee bike rider was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for fatally shooting another man in front of the victim’s wife during a road rage incident, after first punching him in the face; he claimed the driver had hit him with his car and called him a racial slur. He was arrested in Kentucky after fleeing the state for six months following the shooting.
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Local
Fallen bicyclist Jeff Knopp was honored with LA’s first Yellow Bike Project sculpture; the permanent memorial will hopefully call attention to the risks people face walking and biking in the city The Marine Corps vet was killed when a driver slammed into him as he rode hid bike on Foothill Boulevard in in Sunland-Tujunga.
You only have until the end of this month to apply for a Go Human Mini-Grant to improve traffic safety, assuming you’re a nonprofit or community-based organization.
Streets For All is hosting a Zoom mobility debate between CD 9 Councilmember Curren Price and challenger Dulce Vasquez on April 24th.
Lancaster received a $5 million grant for the two-mile Amargosa Recreational Trail Project, complete with protected bike and pedestrian trails, as well as public art, along Amargosa Creek.
State
A San Diego man suffered a fractured collarbone and left wrist when he “collided with” a minivan driven by an 80-year old woman in an apparent left-cross crash while riding his bike.
Road.cc offers a look at “ten stunning road bikes” from last week’s Sea Otter Classic in Monterey.
Sad news from Modesto, where a 62-year old man was killed riding his bike in a hit-and-run Saturday night; police are looking for the drivers of two pickups who appeared to be traveling together.
A 38-year old Oakland bike rider suffered severe head trauma when he was struck by the driver of a Cadillac Escalade who ran the red light, when fled the scene following the crash.
National
The new owner of the Denver Broncos could be one of us; 77-year old Walmart heir Rob Walton is reportedly preparing a $4 billion bid for the team, nearly 40 years after competing in the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii.
A broadcaster for NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights hockey team is one of us, after suffering “significant injuries” in a bicycling crash. However, it’s not clear if he was struck by a motorist or fell off his bike.
Colorado’s state legislature has approved a true Idaho Stop Law, allowing riders to treat stop signs as yields and red lights as stop signs; the bill is now on the governor’s desk awaiting his signature. Hopefully it won’t suffer the same fate as California’s attempt to allow bicyclists to treat stop signs like yields, which was vetoed by Governor Newsom last year.
This is the cost of traffic violence. Twenty-four-year old Pittsburgh Steelers backup quarterback Dwayne Haskins was killed when he was run down by the driver of a dump truck as he attempted to walk across a Florida highway.
Former Olympic figure skating gold medalist Scott Hamilton is planning to ride 444 miles along the Natchez Trace Parkway through Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee in hopes of raising $1.25 million to help fight glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive form of brain cancer.
International
A British Columbia man is fighting back after the provincial driver’s insurance agency billed him $3,700 for damage to the Mercedes-Benz that ran him down as he pedaled through an intersection, somehow concluding he was 50% at fault for the crash — even though the driver ran the stop sign.
This is who we share the road with. In yet another example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late, a 22-year old British man will spend 30 years behind bars for using a stolen car as a weapon to run down another man outside a pub, dragging him under his car; he was accused of using a vehicle as a weapon twice before, yet somehow kept driving until he killed someone.
Heartbreaking photo of a man walking his bicycle past the ruins of a building destroyed by Russian shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine.
A 26-year old Kenyan man is riding his bicycle to campaign for governor of the country’s Nakura County.
Competitive Cycling
Former cycling scion Taylor Phinney sheds light on his unexpected retirement from the WorldTour, saying pro cycling is “fucked up,” due to a culture of drug abuse and silence.
Polish pro Michal Kwiatkowski was declared winner of Sunday’s Amstel Gold classic in a photo finish with France’s Benoit Cosnefroy, who had initially been awarded first place until photos confirmed Kwiatkowski crossed the finish line just in front of him.
Dutch pro Milan Vader was reportedly in stable condition following a major crash on a descent during last week’s Tour of the Basque Country, suffering a broken collarbone, vertebrae and shoulder blade, as well as having stents placed in his carotid artery. Aussie Lucas Hamilton was a lot luckier, walking away with a bloody nose after frightening flip over a guard rail.
I was today years old when I learned that WorldTour cycling teams face relegation, just like soccer teams.
Former German great Jan Ulrich raised the equivalent of over $43,700 for children in Ukraine by auctioning his custom yellow Pinarello from the 1998 Tour de France; the never-used bike was created for him to ride into Paris for what would have been his second consecutive Tour win, until he was upset by Marco Pantani.
Finally…
That feeling when you’re afraid a new protected bike lane will offer a getaway route for criminals. When you can’t ride your bike because a bird built a nest in it.
And who wants to leave your dog at home, anyway?
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
