As expected, Los Angeles has now officially failed to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, as they committed to under the Vision Zero program.
And still not one city official has commented on the failure.
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The 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive is now officially over!
Thanks to Ralph D, Johannes H, Brian N, John M, Glen S, Kevin B, Rob K and Greg M for their generous contributions to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!
And thank you to everyone who donated this year. I can’t begin to tell you how much your support means to me.
Meanwhile, I’ve had a full week to recover, and I’m tanned, rested and ready to rock and roll.
And my apologies to anyone who forwarded news this past week, because it’s after 3 am and I’m too damn tired to dig through my emails to credit everyone.
But I do appreciate the links, and thank you for your help.
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Speaking of non-action by our elected leaders, yesterday’s vehicular terrorist attack in New Orleans is yet another reminder that there is absolutely nothing in place or planned to protect tourists and shoppers from a similar attack on Hollywood Blvd.
While there are plans for parking-protected bike lanes on the boulevard, that won’t offer any protection if cars aren’t present, and does nothing to keep drivers from accessing the sidewalk.
We need barrier-protected bike lanes and steel bollards along the full length go the Walk of Fame, and a secure pedestrian plaza at Hollywood & Highland, where the largest crowds congregate.
Because it’s virtually inevitable that we’ll see more attacks like this across the US in the years to come. And sooner or later, it’s bound to happen here.
Talk about missing the mark.
An editorial that appeared in the newspapers of the Southern California News Group — including the Orange County Register — looked at last month’s limited launch of the California Ebike Incentive Program, and somehow managed to get it all wrong.
Here’s how Electrek kicks off their review of the SCNG piece.
The first complaint in the op-ed is that the total number of vouchers provided in the first round was relatively small compared to the large size of the California e-bike market. However, instead of suggesting that the budget be increased to help more Californians achieve transportation independence, as we called for recently, the editorial takes the opposite position of suggesting that the program simply be canceled.
Never mind that the rollout was deliberately throttled by program managers, who released just a small fraction of the available funds, despite knowing demand would far exceed supply.
And it did.
But somehow, the authors of the SCNG editorial saw limited rollout as a reason to kill the whole damn thing. Makes perfect sense. If your goal is to force everyone back into their cars.
Fortunately, MSN lifts the curtain on the New Group’s draconian paywall, allowing the rest of us to get a look at their misguided piece, which calls the program a “political stunt” relying on buzzwords to hide its limitations.
That “gimmick” will have “imperceptible impact on environmental outcomes,” according to the senior transportation policy analyst at the conservative Reason Foundation, who argues it “confers private benefits on recipients, but will fall a social cost-benefit test.”
Maybe someone should tell him about the massive subsidies we all pay for motor vehicles, which confer private benefits on car owners at the expense of everyone else while killing our planet — along with tens of thousands of Americans every year — if he really wants to talk cost-benefit tests.
The authors somehow conclude that the roughly 1,500 vouchers released in the initial round would “goose” sales of ebikes in California just 0.78%, out of a guesstimated 192,000 annual sales. Which is a far better argument for releasing the full $38 million budget than for killing the program.
Let alone increasing it to a level equivalent to the state’s electric vehicle incentives, where it could have a far greater impact on our congested streets, air quality and warming planet.
Then, of course, they have to trot out the spurious argument that ebike injuries are soaring, as if they would somehow remain at an artificially low level while ebike sales and usage skyrocket.
Or that the voucher recipients might bring in devices from other states that could enable ebikes to exceed California’s 28 mph maximum. Maybe they could show the same concern for illegal devices that allow drivers to skirt other California regulations.
Or gun owners, for that matter.
Finally, they assume that “kids obviously will be driving many of the subsidized ebikes,” even though the program is limited to legal adults.
Not to mention the obvious windshield bias reflected in the term “driving,” which is what you do with a car, as opposed to riding a bicycle.
But that’s what happens when the authors shoot from the lip, without bothering to do even the most basic research to understand what the hell they’re talking about.
Ebikes are neither liberal nor conservative. And even the relatively paltry $38 million approved for full funding of the ebike voucher program amounts to nothing more than a rounding error on the state’s $291 billion budget.
So if the SCNG editorial board is feeling grouchy and in the mood to pinch pennies, maybe they should look somewhere else.
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On a related subject, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Edward Clancy, the founder of San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, is no longer associated with the state’s Ebike Incentive Program, following multiple investigations into the organization.
However, a lot of questions remain about both Clancy and Pedal Ahead, including what role he still plays with the organization, and let alone what the legal name of the group is.
Which raises evstillen more questions of why the CARB is continue to work with a group that is so clearly in over their head, at best.
Meanwhile, a La Jolla letter writer calls the program “another waste of taxpayer money under the guise of promoting “clean air,” insisting that giving money to low-income people to ride an ebike instead of using a car “is ridiculous.”
Because we should only use state funds to subsidize driving, evidently.
And Los Angeles Times readers warn we should brace ourselves for more collisions with ebike-riding teens along the beach. As if 1,500 vouchers given to low-income adults in need of transportation will somehow translate to countless more teens recklessly riding illegal electric motorbikes.
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A new YouTube short explains why the owners of Forest Lawn and Mount Sinai cemeteries are wrong to keep fighting improved bike lanes along deadly Forest Lawn Drive.
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A New York driver is caught on video illegally using the bike lane, squeezing by people on bicycles to bypass backed up traffic, until they get stuck waiting on a turning car.
I know you're super super important, but keep your cars out of the bike lanes. pic.twitter.com/vkatJ7Y1IY
— Andy Boenau (@Boenau) December 29, 2024
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A writer for the National Review says Trump must end the non-existent war on cars, and somehow sees the transition to electric vehicles as part of a nefarious plot to “radically reduce the number of cars in circulation.” Which wouldn’t be a bad idea, even if he’s wildly off base. But you’ll have to find a way around the magazine’s paywall if you want to read it.
Quebec provincial leaders are declaring war on Toronto bike lanes, even as more city residents want to ride their bikes.
A British Conservative politician gets the rules of the road wrong, insisting that bicyclists need to ride single file, then plays the victim by anticipating the inevitable criticism she’ll receive.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
No bias here, either. The Sacramento Bee reports that local police busted a 14-year old boy after he led them on a one-hour chase on an electric bicycle, at speeds up to 60 mph. Except anything that goes that fast is actually an electric motorcycle, since ebike speeds are capped at 28 mph, and even then only if they can hit that speed under pedal power.
A 34-year old Singaporean bicyclist is expected to face charges for colliding with a female jogger, after investigators concluded he’d been riding recklessly leading up to the crash.
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Local
The BBC asks if bike lanes can reshape “car-crazy Los Angeles” in time for the 2028 LA Olympics, by way of former Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Twenty-eight by 28” transport plan; current Mayor Karen Bass says “As a bike rider, I certainly hope so.” Which appears to be the first time she’s uttered the word “bike” since becoming mayor.
LA Metro is delaying the start of automated ticking of drivers who park in bus lanes until the middle of next month. Which means you’ll still have to deal with scofflaw motorists and their motor vehicles for another six weeks.
Urbanize says buses, bike lanes and plain old walking could be better options to improve transportation to Dodger Stadium than a proposed gondola.
Streetsblog editor Joe Linton does a little prognosticating and makes his predictions for the coming year, including the opening of South LA’s Rail to Rail walking and biking path, and the first lawsuit against Los Angeles for failing to live up to its commitment to implement the city mobility plan under Measure HLA.
“Sprightly” Harrison Ford is one of us, as the 82-year old actor took his bike for a ride in Santa Monica last week.
State
Electrek says Gavin Newsom is coming for your ebike throttle.
A four-year old Vista boy was hospitalized with multiple traumatic injuries after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike on Friday.
Yet another reminder to always carry ID when you ride, as the Kern County coroner finally identified a 68-year old man who was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle in Stockdale last August.
Sad news from the Bay Area, where noted framebuilder Ed Litton died two weeks after he was struck by a driver near his Berkeley bike shop.
National
Cycling Weekly talks with a long-haul trucker who’s put in over 600 hours on his bicycle this year when he’s not behind the wheel.
A lifelong bicyclist in Colorado Springs, Colorado makes the case against bike lanes — particularly protected bike lanes — arguing that they introduce dangers that only make them “feel” safer. Even though studies have consistently shown that bike lanes improve safety for all road users.
That’s more like it. A 26-year old San Antonio, Texas woman can look forward to spending the next 12 years behind bars, after she pleaded no contest to killing an 18-year old man while under the influence of alcohol, cocaine and Xanax — not to mention failing her court-ordered breathalyzer tests six separate times in the lead-up to her trial.
Bittersweet news, as the wife of fallen bicyclist and NHL star Matthew Gaudreau gave birth to their son Tripp Matthew Gaudreau, four months after he and his brother Johnny were killed by an alleged drunk and overly aggressive driver while riding their bikes in New Jersey the night before their sister’s wedding.
‘Tis the season. Bike riders in Durham, NC give themselves the gift of a Christmas present-protected bike lane.
‘Tis the season, part 2. A 96-year old Florida man celebrated the holidays by organizing an impromptu neighborhood bike parade. And yes, I want to be like him when I grow up.
The Grinch struck in Florida in the days before Christmas, as someone stole a “good amount” of cash from nonprofit bike-donation program Jack the Bike Man.
International
Momentum lists a dozen bicycling resolutions for the new year, from mastering the art of bicycle maintenance to becoming a bike advocate. My only resolution every year is not to make any resolutions. If you want to make a change in your life, just do it when and where you are, without waiting for some arbitrary date on the calendar.
Momentum also offers a list of “10 stunning bike escapes from the city to the countryside.” None of which are in Los Angeles — or anywhere in Southern California, of course.
Making room for active transportation on European streets begins with confronting street parking.
Good question. A writer for Cycling Weekly asks if there’s room for non-drinkers in bicycling culture. Short answer, yes. Although non-coffee drinkers may be another matter.
Horrible news from Brazil, where a mother and daughter were killed when a driver chasing a mugger who’d just stolen his cellphone jumped the curb with his car, and crashed into them as they rode their bicycles on the sidewalk.
‘Tis the season, part 3. An 85-year old man in British Columbia has refurbished over 1,600 abandoned bicycles and given them away to kids in need over the past 20 years.
They get it. An English government council wants to encourage more people to ride, or ride more, by offering free coffee, discounts on food and passes to local attractions.
No surprise here. Road.cc reports that complaints about bike lanes and other traffic safety projects usually quiet down after a few months, and often turn positive once they’ve been on the ground for awhile.
“Furious” UK drivers insist they’re somehow being prevented from getting into and out of their own driveways by new bike lanes separated by easy-to-back-over bendy-post plastic bollards that literally couldn’t stop someone on a skateboard, let alone a multi-ton motor vehicle.
A 70-something British couple learns the hard way that they can take their ebike foldies into France on the Eurostar, but can’t take them back for fear the battery could explode.
UK Olympic cycling hero and bike advocate Chris Boardman says anti-bike scaremongering in the press is bad for the country’s health.
Two Chainz isn’t just a rapper anymore, as World Bicycle Relief tests out their new double-chained Buffalo bike with delivery riders in Kenya.
There may be hope yet, as the New York Times reports Chinese companies sidestepped Trump’s tariffs the first time around — including on bicycles and bike parts — and could do it again.
It took police in Singapore just four hours to rescue a pair of mountain bikers who’d gotten lost in a forest.
Competitive Cycling
Two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard says he’s going to have to reach a whole new level to compete with three-time champ Tadej Pogačar.
Sebastopol, California’s 18-year old Vida Lopez de San Roman had a pretty good year, winning two cyclocross national championships and one world title, in what isn’t even her best event.
Mathieu van der Poel seems to be doing okay financially these days, arriving at a World Cup ‘cross race in a half-million dollar Lamborghini.
Sad news from Quebec, where former French pro and Canadian champ Pascal Hervé passed away at age 60; he raced five years for Festina in the ’90s before getting caught up in doping scandals.
Finally…
Your next ebike could be a single-seater car. After more than 150 years, it’s still possible to set a world record on a penny farthing.
And this is what you do when the local bike path has been flooded for the past year, and you can’t get anyone to pay attention to the absurdity of the situation.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
