April 11, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: Young man riding bicycle killed in Wilmington hit-and-run — 3rd fatal LA County bike hit-and-run this year
News is just coming in that a bike rider was killed in a Wilmington hit-and-run Thursday night.
This is at least the 12th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of already this year in Los Angeles County; it’s also the second in the City of Los Angeles.
Five of those SoCal deaths have been hit-and-runs, as have all of the deaths in LA County.
As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the driver in any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
June 15, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Man riding bike killed in April hit-and-run in Historic South Central; 8th SoCal bicyclist killed by hit-and-run drivers this year
Once again, someone riding a bicycle was killed on the streets of Los Angeles
And once again, we didn’t find out until weeks later.
The LAPD announced today that a man was killed by a hit-and-run driver over two months ago in Historic South Central.
The victim, identified as 68-year old Salvador Gonzalez Arechiga, was riding east on Adams Boulevard at Trinity Street around 3:35 am April 13th when he was rear-ended by the driver, who sped away without stopping.
Arechiga was taken to a nearby hospital suffering from severe, life-threatening injuries, where he died nine hours later.
Police are looking for two men in a dark-colored 2007 to 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe. Security video shows the driver was a Black man approximately 30 to 50-years-old, 5’08” to 5’10” tall, 200-250 pounds. He was wearing a dark jacket, blue pants with a white pattern on the left leg, a white Dodgers LA t-shirt, white tennis shoes and a black dew rag.
The passenger was described as a Black man, with black hair and a black beard, approximately 5’10” to 6′ tall, and 250 to 300 pounds; he was wearing a white hoodie with a dark logo and dark pants.
This is at least the 20th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; half of those have been in the City of Los Angeles.
It’s also the eighth fatal hit-and-run involving a SoCal bike rider this year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Salvador Gonzalez Arechiga and his loved ones.
Thanks to LAPD Central Traffic Division for the heads-up.
The suspect vehicle is described as an older model white Nissan, with likely with damage to its front end, hood and windshield from the impact with the victim.
Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Detective Juan Campos at 213/833-3713, or email 31480@lapd.online. Or call the Central Traffic Division Watch Commander at 213/833-3746 after hours or weekends.
As always, there is a $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious, but not fatal, injuries in the City of Los Angeles.
There’s always another side to the story, even when everyone has already taken sides.
It’s been clear for some time that we’ve only heard one side of the story about the white New York hospital worker filmed in a viral video trying to wrest and whine a bikeshare bike out of the hands of a Black teenager.
The woman, who has become infamous as the Citi Bike Karen, has spoken through her attorney, who claims he has receipts showing she rented the bike she was trying to claim.
She’s raised over $124,000 from people who thought she was unfairly accused of racism.
Now the family of the teenager she was trying to take the bike from is finally speaking out for the first time. According to them, the 17-year old boy’s life and family have been in turmoil since the incident.
They explained that as the son of low-income, West African immigrants on public assistance, he was entitled to discounted 45-minute bikeshare rides, after which the rate increases.
The day of the incident, he and his friends rode from his home in the Bronx to visit friends in Harlem. After 45 minutes, he re-docked the bike to reset the clock, before setting out again at the reduced rate.
Which is when he claims his life went to hell.
He says the hospital worker approached the group as they briefly rested with the bikes, asking each one in turn if she could use their bike. Each boy said no, because they were about to take them back out again.
So she stepped onto the bike anyway, using her phone to scan the bike’s QR code as he held onto the handlebars, and tried to take the bike out of his hands.
It was 7:24 p.m., and that is when the boys began recording…
Michael insisted Sarah Jane Comrie knew he was planning to use the bike. He said she asked him and his friends to use theirs, and they all informed her they were using the bikes and would be leaving shortly.
He said she seemed annoyed that they wouldn’t willingly give up their bikes to her. He also said he believes she wanted that bike as opposed to the others that remained docked in the rack because he had one of the newer e-bikes.
The rest of the interaction plays out in the video. Sarah Jane Comrie, dressed in scrubs bearing the NYC Health + Hospitals logo, removed her work ID badge from her neck, placed it in her bag along with a brown paper bag she was holding and began screaming for help.
Proving once again there’s always another side to the story.
We have no way of knowing who is right, or exactly how the events played out in the minutes before the camera was turned on. But the incident offers a Rorschach Test for today’s America, as people on both sides of the political divide quickly chose sides.
A white woman received over a hundred grand, while a young Black man has his life upended. Although a crowdfunding campaign started yesterday has raised over $37,000 for his legal fees in less than 24 hours.
This difference of intent and scale is worth dwelling on because it is why the comparison is so misguided. The U.S. Department of Transportation has estimated 475,000 households containing one million people were displaced due to highway construction from 1957 to 1977. That is the equivalent of displacing the entire population of modern-day Austin, Texas. Likewise, a Los Angeles Times analysis found that an additional 200,000 people have lost their homes due to highway construction since 1990. To the best of my knowledge, there has not been a single housing unit destroyed or person displaced to build a bike or bus lane anywhere in the U.S. On these grounds alone, it is simply absurd to compare urban highway construction to bike and bus lanes. Projects of such vastly different scopes and scale deserve different approaches and mindsets.
But there is another good reason to reject this comparison, one that is equally revealing about the biases of modern transportation officials. Reynolds asked, “What makes us so confident we know best?” Another way of asking this is, what makes us so confident we know bike and bus lanes are better than masses of parking and multiple travel lanes for private cars for everyone?
The answer is: we’ve got the receipts. In this case, decades of scientific study and experiments carefully tracked and evaluated by local departments of transportation.
The sheer absurdity of Reynolds’ comments, coming from someone who should surely know better, is appalling.
It also explains why so little was done to improve LA streets while she ran the department. And why we shouldn’t hold our breath for any major innovations coming from her new position as Metro’s Chief Innovation Officer.
Unless maybe her chief innovation is even more pointless, never-ending public meetings.
He’s also one of us, regularly taking part in the annual 545-mile AIDS/LIFECYCLE ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which benefits the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
However, Ratevosian faces stiff competition from Burbank Assembly Transportation Chair Laura Friedman, California State Senator Anthony Portantino, and former Boy Meets World star Ben Savage, among others.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
An award-winning British TV producer, writer and comedian was fined the equivalent of more than $1,200, plus another $1,250 in court costs and victim surcharge, for flipping off a bike cam activist when he was caught using his smartphone from behind the wheel of his $173,000 Aston Martin.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
After a Seal Beach letter writer complains that it seems petty to ticket a pair of senior citizens on a tandem for rolling a stop sign, a cop explains that bicycles are treated as vehicles in California, and bike riders have to obey the law, too. Even laws that most drivers don’t. Which is one more argument to pass the Stop As Yield bill in the state legislature, and get Governor Newsom to sign the damn thing this time.
A 28-year old Kentucky man is dead after a pickup driver crashed into his bike; police excused the crash because glare from the setting sun kept him from seeing the victim. Never mind that the correct course of action would have been to pull over to the side of the road until he could see, before he killed anyone.
This is who we share the road with. A 32-year old Philadelphia woman faces murder and vehicular homicide charges for a December hit-and-run crime spree that killed on man and injured two other people; she is accused of hitting three cars and a scooter rider, then crashing into a bike rider before fatally slamming into a man walking in a crosswalk, and fleeing from all three crashes.
Bicycling says the colossal amounts of elevation gain in the last few stages of the Giro will make the final days of racing a slugfest. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.
That comes in behind only New York’s 17. And tops Houston, Texas and Jacksonville, Florida with ten each, followed by Chicago and Detroit with eight.
But on a per capita basis, we’re not even close.
Tucson, Arizona led the nation with 1.26 deaths per 100,000 residents, followed closely by Detroit with 1.2 per 100,000 people.
Los Angeles was all the way down at number 16, with a relatively paltry 0.30 per 100,000 residents. Or we could be 20th, since we were tied with Oklahoma City, Las Vegas, Chicago and San Jose.
Despite leading the US in sheer number of bike riders killed, New York didn’t even make the top 20 on a per capita basis.
But however you look at it, it’s still too damn many.
Then again, even one traffic death is one too many.
Joshua Mora was crossing Whittier Blvd at Osme Ave when he was struck by the speeding motorbike rider, who left him sprawled and bleeding in the street as he angrily got back on his bike and sped away.
Next week: Virtual Happy Hour w/ Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky @CD5LosAngeles on Wednesday April 12 @ 5p!
Big bike, bus, + rail projects are coming to CD5! Bring your transpo questions for the councilmember and newest @metrolosangeles Board member. RSVP: https://t.co/xASYcp7MEa
Which sounds like a position better suited to The Batchelor, but it pays up to 150 grand.
ICYMI: We're hiring!
NACTO is looking for a movement builder to be our next Director of Engagement. This role will lead our efforts to connect and champion the transportation professionals working towards equitable policy and street design!
A writer for the Los Angeles Timeswalks all 25 miles of Sunset Blvd in a single day. That’s long been one of my favorite LA bike rides, taking you through a microcosm of virtually every type of LA neighborhood from DTLA to the coast. Although it’s a lot more fun if you do it when it’s not choked with cars and drivers.
State
A father in Aliso Viejo credits an Apple AirTag with recovering his daughter’s stolen ebike, reclaiming it from the thief himself when sheriff’s deputies were unable to find it. Although you should be cautious about that doing yourself, since you never know if the thief might be armed.
We recently mentioned a three-year old boy in Maine whose Spider-Man bike was stolen when he went into a store with his mom; now a bighearted woman who can’t even afford shelter for herself used what little money she had to buy him a new one.
Six months after they were installed, new bike and pedestrian lanes on a Maryland roadway have eliminated crashes for people walking and biking, while increasing travel times just 30 seconds for morning motor vehicle commuters.
Luis Varela was just crossing street at Wilshire Boulevard and Park View Street around 7 pm on Nov. 11th when he was run down by the driver of a dark-colored SUV.
As usual, there is a $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injury. That will rise to $50,000 if he dies of his injuries.
Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign started by Varela’s brother has raised just $1,325 of the $100,000 goal to help pay his medical expenses, and bring his mother in from out of the country to care for him.
The driver who left him there to die should be responsible for that.
And should get locked up for a lot longer than California’s lenient hit-and-run laws will allow.
But won’t be.
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There are now seven people officially qualified to run in the special election to replace former City Council President Nury Martinez, who resigned following the public leak of the racist and otherwise offensive recording she was heard on, along with two other councilmembers.
Which serves as a reminder that the lone remaining councilmember heard on the recording, CD14’s Kevin de León, still won’t do the right thing and resign.
This is the cost of traffic violence, too. After a Georgia bike rider was struck by a driver, a group of bystanders gathered around him to pray. Then just when he started to breathe again, another driver plowed into the group, sending six people to the hospital, with one in critical condition. And we can probably guess who that one is.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A 75-year old London letter writer complains about “rogue” bicyclists who refuse to use bike lanes when there is a more convenient, but less legal, option available, writing “If people keep on demanding cycle lanes, then why do they not use the damn things?” Because it’s human nature to use a short cut when you find one.
The LA Times agrees with California Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to reduce spending to close a projected $22.5 billion budget deficit, but argues the state will need to make up for the $6 billion cut in climate change funding, including investments in public transit, bike and pedestrian projects.
Shades of Nipper. Your next throttle-controlled, dirt bike-style ebike could be distracted by listening to its master’s voice, as RCA makes a leap into electric bikes. Let’s hope its better than their electronics have been in recent decades.
Salt Lake City announced plans to join the national Vision Zero Network in the face of rising traffic deaths and injuries. Let’s hope they actually fund and implement the program, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name.
Police in Durango, Colorado have charged a pair of football players from the local college as co-defendants in an alleged drunken hit-and-run that took the life of a firefighter; the two are accused of helping a third man flee the scene, leaving his car behind with the victim still lodged in the car’s windshield, and his bike stuck underneath.
No surprise here, unfortunately, as a Dutch study has shown a high prevalence of low bone density in the pro cycling peloton. If bicycling is your primary form of exercise, you should think about adding weight training and/or high impact exercises.
It looks like we finally have a winner for all those Tour de France titles Lance unwillingly vacated.
Breaking News: George Santos has declared himself winner of the Tour de France from 1999-2005. The previous self-declared TdF winner of those editions is now threatening to run for Santos’ seat in 2024. Updates soon. pic.twitter.com/Qoyy9xd5HN
December 21, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Bolo Alert for Mid-Wilshire hit-and-run, NTSB ebike and e-scooter report a bust, and LAPD impaired driving holiday PSA
The victim was struck by the driver of a 2012 to 2017 Toyota Camry at the intersection of Venice and Hauser around 9 am December 7th.
No information has been given about the victim, who suffered serious, but thankfully, non-life threatening injuries.
As always, there is a standing $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injuries in the City of Los Angeles. Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD detectives at 213/473-0234, or 877/527-3247 after hours.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Japan will become the fifth country to mandate bike helmets for adults, after Argentina, Cyprus, Australia, and New Zealand, in an apparent attempt to reduce ridership right when we need it most; however, there’s no penalty for failing to comply.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Orange County cities are struggling to regulate e-bikes, with restrictions — such as a 10 mph speed limit on public streets in Lake Forest — that may be illegal under state law.
The NYT’s Wirecutterrecommends the best gifts for bike riders, ranging from olive soap to an otter-shaped water bottle and cage, as well as summer weight women’s jerseys from LA-based Machines for Freedom.
A bike path along a Nantucket roadway is wanted by virtually everyone except the homeowners who live alongside it, who call it a bike path to nowhere and fear bike riders “wandering around private property.” They also suspect people won’t be able to control their bladders after a modest ten-mile bike ride.
A New York man says riding outside is still better than riding in his basement, even after getting hit by an elderly driver, and that surviving the crash made him feel invincible. Oddly, getting hit by a road raging driver had the opposite effect on me.
A 91-year old Florida woman will spend what could be the last years of her life behind bars after running down a couple riding their bikes, then getting out to look at them, and just getting back in her car despite their serious injuries, and driving away to have it repaired at the local dealership; one of the victims called her “a heartless monster who only thinks of herself.”
You could go for a Christmas bike ride through the streets of Cyprus tonight. Except it will probably be over by the time you read this, thanks to a ten-hour time differential between Cyprus and Los Angeles.
Cycling’s governing body will expand the Mountain Bike World Cup even further next year, with the introduction of enduro and E-enduro racing, which comes on the heels of adding cross-country marathon racing to the Cup.
January 12, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on New ADA in Woon hit-and-run case, LA paid out 300 grand in hit-and-run rewards, and bike theft down 22% in Long Beach
It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from our anonymous courtroom correspondent.
So let’s have her kick things off today by catching us up with the latest happenings in bike jurisprudence and other related stuff.
Mariah Kandise Banks (charged in the hit-and-run death of Frederick “Woon” Frazier) has yet another DA newly assigned to her case. He was tranfserred from the Van Nuys courthouse on the morning of her most react hearing, December 6th. He had a whole new caseload to familiarize himself with, but was present for Banks’ appearance. I was able to speak with him very briefly and he indicated that the prosecution is continuing to work with the defense on a plea deal.
(Editor’s note — Let’s hope they finally get a conviction while Woon’s long-suffering mother is still around to see it.)
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Samantha Cunha killed her friend during a bizarre road rage incident. On December 1st, the charge was dismissed.
(Editor’s note — This was the case where Cunha was a passenger in a car driven by Sophia Ardalan when they became involved in a running road rage dispute on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. Ardalan was killed when she either got out, or fell out, of her car attempting to confront the motorcyclist in front of a West Hollywood apartment building, and Cunha somehow put the car into reverse, crushing her against a tree.)
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In the latest episode of Drivers Hitting Buildings:
On the 6th, a driver smashed into a building at Los Altos Dr. & Caricia Dr. in Hacienda Heights.
On Sunday morning, a speeding driver in a Nissan Frontier took out a parked pick-up, a light pole, and the garage at the T-intersection of City Terrace Drive & Ditman.
In the wee, wee hours of Monday, the flower shop at Colima & Lambert, the site of a Black Friday fatality, was again collateral damage in a 3-vehicle collision. This time a driver made a drive-thru of it.
A driver fled a hit and run on the 710, went zipping down surface streets, and ended up hitting the house at 5th St. & Sydney Dr. (This is not the first time that house has been hit.)
On the 3rd, a dipstick departed the Sinclair gas station at Alameda & Nadeau with the gas nozzle still attached. Counts as structural damage?
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There was a candlelight vigil Sunday for a mother & daughter killed on my coworker’s commute route. Last week, she asked, “You do this all the time. Do I take a candle, or will they hand them out there? Is it okay to take more flowers?” I’m kinda upset to be the go-to for advice on this subject, tbh.
The speed limit on this stretch is 40mph, and this intersection is close to the terminus of the 105 at Studebaker, which has frequent collisions, sometimes involving the already red-tagged building on the east side of the street. Currently, the guardrail “protecting” the sidewalk has a 20-inch dent. Just a half mile up the road, Chandler Ray was killed on his bike.
The killer was released last Tuesday before the tox exam was even returned. She’s out there. Just like Mariah Banks.
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This was the third Christmas in a row that it was too wet for me & my friends to put up our hit-and-run reward posters… y’know, the some people are in such a rush on Christmas Eve that they really don’t watch out for grannies trying to make their way home. We have really sharp pictures of the suspect and his vehicle, too! The posters and the reindeer hoof print stencils have to wait til next year.
Prior to last year, the city had only paid three people a total of $55,000 in the previous four years of the program.
The sudden explosion of payments was most likely due the time it takes to make an arrest and for the case to work its way through the court system, according to a police spokesman.
The site also reports that serious hit-and-runs are up in the city, while overall hit-and-runs decreased somewhat.
Los Angeles has seen a rise in people dying or being seriously injured in car crashes. In 2021, there were 359 felony hit and runs in the city that resulted in serious injury or death, up 25% from the 286 in 2020, according to LAPD Traffic Division Compstat data.
Altogether, there were 3,536 felony hit and run cases in Los Angeles last year. That was a decrease of 17% from the 4,273 in 2020.
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Time is running out to voice your thoughts on the planned rush hour bus lanes on La Brea Ave, which would provide a relatively safe route from Hollywood to South LA.
Longtime CNN reporter and host Christiane Amanpour is one of us.
Born on this day, January 12, 1958: Christiane Amanpour, international journalist, who arrived at her first job at CNN in Atlanta "with a suitcase, with my bicycle, and with about 100 dollars." Happy #bicyclebirthday, Christiane!#BOTDpic.twitter.com/04o95o2LXT
San Francisco Streetsblog’s Roger Rudick takes an Oakland TV station to task for displaying its windshield bias by criticizing bicycle rideout taking over a local freeway, while failing to criticize dangerous drivers using bike lanes. Because one is a lot more dangerous than the other, and it ain’t the kids on bikes. Even if riding on a freeway isn’t the brightest choice.
Kind of a strange post from Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss, who finds his knickers in a twist after criticism from Peter Flax and Doug Gordon of The War on Cars podcast, who made their comments without actually naming him.
Bike mechanics, co-ops, and various advocates and nonprofit advocacy groups are joining together to call for more durable and repairable budget bikes that can last at least 500 riding hours before breaking down, and be fixed when they do. You can sign the petition here. However, you’ll be required to give your full address, which is usually a deal breaker for me.
The second shoe has fallen in Las Vegas, where the family of one of the five bike riders killed by a meth-fueled truck driver have filed suit against the driver and his employer, as well as the ride’s escort driver, leaving just three more shoes to inevitably fall. The driver, Jordan Barson, is doing 16 to 40 years behind bars for the crash.
You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in Florida, where an accused hit-and-run driver who killed a man riding a bicycle copped a sweetheart plea deal in a long-delayed conclusion to the 2016 case, walking without a single day behind bars in a case that should could have resulted in four to 15 years behind bars.
Now surprise here, as Australian researchers report three-quarters of people surveyed in the country’s Victoria state want to ride their bikes more, but only if there’s safe bike infrastructure to do it in. Which pretty much corresponds with similar surveys everywhere else, including Los Angeles.
Louisiana’s “challenging” Rouge Roubaix bike race is back this year after a five year hiatus due to flooding and Covid, as well as a misguided local ordinance banning groups of more than ten people on bicycles. Which makes it kind of hard to host a race with hundreds of competitors.
December 28, 2016 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: Hit-and-run driver critically injures Hyde Park bike rider; LAPD fails to send hit-and-run alert or mention reward
Once again, a heartless coward has left a South LA bike rider bleeding in the street.
According to press release from the LAPD, a 35-year old man was riding some sort of motorized bicycle on 48th Street at Ninth Ave in the Hype Park neighborhood around 3:40 Monday afternoon when he was struck by a car driven by an unidentified driver.
The driver had been parked at the eastbound curb when he suddenly pulled out, turning left across the traffic lanes and into the path of the westbound bike rider, in a crash captured by a security cam.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
There are bike lanes in both direction on 48th, though it appears he was traveling in the through lane at or near the speed of traffic.
Police are looking for a burgundy or red late 1990s Oldsmobile Cutlass four door sedan. The department reports the two people in the car had just left Kenny’s Liquor, where they were captured on security footage.
The driver is described as a male Hispanic, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall, between 180 and 200 pounds with dark hair. He was seen wearing a gray baseball cap, a gray jacket, white t-shirt, and blue jeans.
The passenger is described as a male Hispanic, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall, with black hair and a mustache. He was seen wearing a red long sleeve shirt, black pants, and brown shoes.
Anyone with information urged to call LAPD South Traffic Division at 323/421-2500.
Oddly, the press release does not mention the city’s standing reward program providing up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of hit-and-run drivers; in this case, it provides an automatic $25,000 reward for a collision resulting in a severe injury.
It’s also strange that the LAPD did not use LA’s hit-and-run alert system that was approved by the city council early last year alerting the public to be on the lookout for suspect vehicles. For some reason, the department seems reluctant to use the program, even though it was created for cases exactly like this.
There is also a statewide program that was signed into law last year allowing hit-and-run alerts on state highway signs.
Maybe someday the LAPD will actually use some of the tools available to them to enlist the public’s help to catch people like this.
Update 2: In an LAPD press conference, South LA detectives identified the victim as 36-year old Los Angeles resident Gabrail Hasan, the father of nine kids under 15.
The tattoo artist and vice president of the LA DTM (Doing the Most) Motorized Bike Club remains in critical condition in the ICU following emergency surgery for a crushed aorta.
The LA River Bike Path isn’t the only major local bikeway closed right now.
Mateusz Suska of Bike LA County tweeted Thursday that the Rio Hondo Bike Path is closed between San Gabriel Blvd and Rush Street through the Whittier Narrows due to construction work.
The county bikeways map shows the closure is due to last through March 10th.
However, I keep getting an internal server error when I try to access the bike path closures page; maybe you’ll have better luck.
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Glendale votes to match Los Angeles in offering rewards up to $50,000 for information leading to the conviction of a hit-and-run driver.
Hopefully, the idea will spread; drivers shouldn’t get away with it just because they ran away on the wrong side of the city limits.
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The Burbank city council votes once again to ban bikes from the formerly bike, pedestrian and equestrian Mariposa Street Bridge over the LA River.
But in nearly the same breath, they voted to move forward with a separate bike and pedestrian bridge at Bob Hope Drive. Although one that won’t be ready until at least 2020, while the bike ban on the Mariposa Street Bridge goes into effect right away.
So you’re only screwed for the next four years.
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Now this is a wayfinding sign, as my platinum-level bike friendly hometown installs detailed signage along a key bike corridor.
I’d like to say we could use signs like this here in LA. But first we’d have to get a key bike corridor to put them on.
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Local
Bikeshare is coming to Venice, as LA and Santa Monica approve plans for five Breeze bikeshare stations, with up to 15 more to come. The story adds that LA, Long Beach, West Hollywood and yes, the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills are scheduled to get bikeshare systems of their own before the year is over.
Los Angeles Magazine looks at Caltrans’ plans to destroy yet another neighborhood with a flyover HOV lane exit ramp that would go right next to the historic St. John’s Cathedral, and dump drivers in the middle of LA’s first Complete Street on South Figueroa.
One percent of West Hollywood residents bike to work, compared to two percent of the people who work there; 85% of residents prefer to drive by themselves.
Long Beach’s Empact is hosting a free bike safety class this Saturday; everyone who participates will get a free helmet and bike lights.
The Times looks at the soon-to-be bike-friendly makeover of Huntington Park’s Pacific Boulevard.
Coronado police bust a bike thief using a remotely monitored bicycle with a tracking device in it. Or as anyone else would call it, a bait bike.
The head of a San Diego non-profit says it’s great that the city has adopted Vision Zero, but now it’s time to pay for it.
San Diego is investing $750,000 in hosting the first stage of the Amgen Tour of California, while expecting a return of $2.5 million to the local economy.
Cathedral City moves forward with a 2.5 mile segment of the inexplicably controversial CV Link, a planned 50-mile multi-use path circling the Coachella Valley that has faced intense opposition in some cities along the route.
Palo Alto’s new bike-riding mayor says traffic won’t improve until more people get out of their cars. Which is pretty much the answer just about anywhere.
Las Vegas will take a year to complete the city’s first Complete Street, replacing two traffic lanes with wider sidewalks, buffered bike lanes, narrower lanes and a raised center median.
After a Cleveland man is acquitted for fatally left crossing a group of cyclists, a local bike advocacy group says being sorry for his actions should not excuse him from being accountable to them.
New bamboo bike maker Pedal Forward will employ the homeless to build bikes in New York, while 10% of sales will help fund bicycles for people in Tanzania and Uganda.
Now that’s taking traffic crime seriously. An Alabama man gets one year for criminally negligent homicide for running down two cyclists in 2014, and 10 years for assault.
A Vancouver website asks if British Columbia’s mandatory bike helmet law will kill the city’s coming bikeshare system. It certainly won’t help; Seattle’s helmet law is often blamed for the failure of that city’s program.
Not surprisingly, 42% of Brits surveyed say they live too far away to bike to work, while 20% cited the country’s notorious weather as their reason not to ride; nine percent don’t let either excuse get in the way.
Evidently, LA isn’t the only place where the streets are crumbling. A British cyclist complains that potholes are a disgrace after flatting both tires and narrowly avoiding the truck behind him. Maybe what he needs is a bike light that tells bicyclists where to expect them.
As bicycling booms in Israel, Tel Aviv plans to spend 30 million shekels — about $7.5 million — to expand and connect their existing network of dead-end bikeways.
Evidently having solved all other traffic and crime problems, Brisbane, Australia police crack down on bicyclists who don’t have a bike bell. Because apparently, just using your voice just isn’t good enough Down Under.
Security camera footage shows the April 6th assault, as five men beat and stabbed the 36-year old South El Monte man for a full 45 seconds before getting back in their car; one of the men can’t resist the temptation to turn back for one last kick.
Most disturbingly, there appears to be no reason for the attack.
Police report the victim, who remains hospitalized, was an innocent bystander who was simply riding his bike on Elliot Ave at 12:15 am when a car passed him in the opposite direction, and one of the passengers shouted at him. The driver then made a U-turn, following the rider before stopping alongside his bike to confront him.
He tried to run away, but his attackers caught up and repeatedly hit, kicked and stabbed him.
Anyone with information is urged to call the El Monte Police watch commander at 626/580-2109.
Witnesses providing information that leads to a conviction in a hit-and-run case will now be eligible for rewards ranging from $1,000 for a property damage collision up to $50,000 for a hit-and-run resulting in death.
However, as with the city’s anti-harassment ordinance, the new law only applies with the Los Angeles city limits.
So if a driver leaves you lying broken and bleeding on the street in Beverly Hills, East LA or Compton, or anywhere else outside the LA city limits, you’re on your own.
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If you’ve ever wondered why I think most sharrows aren’t worth the paint they’re made from, Michael Schinderling, aka Mykee Steen, provides graphic proof.
The video was taken on Fountain and Avenues in Hollywood and Los Feliz, which is my new bicycling territory. And clearly demonstrates the lack of comfortable riding routes in the area.
Schinderling notes that Hollywood Councilmember that Mitch O’Farrell told him that the sharrows were low-flow and safe, and that bike lanes are unnecessary.
Right.
Actually, I think the real purpose of those arrows with a bike symbol on such busy streets is just to help drivers improve their aim.
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Streetsblog’s Damien Newton offers a great interview with new LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler, who explains her focus on equity and social justice.
Nice to see a growing commitment to the whole community from SoCal’s leading bike advocacy group.
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Great ad from Cycling Canada shows bikes riding themselves to urge potential riders to just hop on. An accompanying video explains how it was done.
The three-year old Kings County boy who was seriously injured when the bike trailer he was riding in was rear-ended by a driver doing at least 50 mph has died; no word on the condition of his father, who was riding the bike.
And a Humboldt County bridge has been renamed as a memorial for a cyclist who was killed in a February collision.
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Local
Bicycling offers a great interview with LA cycling legend Road Block, aka Don Ward. If you ask me what riders and bike advocates I admire most, local or otherwise, he’d be pretty near the top of the list.
Long Beach police bust two bike thieves after they fall for a bait bike; the suspects already had two other suspected stolen bicycles in their possession at the time of their arrest. And yes, LBPD recommends using a U-lock and registering your bike.
State
Cyclelicious discovers Calbike has lost sponsors as a result of its successful fight against the proposed mandatory helmet bill. Anyone would pull their support from the state’s leading advocacy group over that needs to seriously rethink their commitment to bicycling.
That triangle curb protruding into a new San Diego protected bike lane is being removed, after a new paint job failed to pass muster.
Caltrans installs barbed wire next to a San Mateo County bike path in an apparent effort to keep people and deer off a freeway — or possibly ensure painful injuries to anyone who falls or rides off the path.
A Sausalito councilwoman continues to push for a limit on rental bikes, evidently preferring that all those people drive and take up even more space instead. I guess creating space for those tourists to safely ride and park their bikes is out of the question.
National
The Federal Highway Administration finally gets serious about helping local transportation planners count bikes and pedestrians; needless to say, LA is left out of the first round of the pilot program.
Nice to have bike lawyer Bob Mionske back online; today’s advice is to stay out of the door zone. But you knew that already, right?
A Portland paper explains why cyclists are attempting to get the bike-friendly ranking for the former-bicycling paradise downgraded.
A Chicago alderman tries to force the city to move a protected bike lane from a busy street. Unlike LA, he apparently doesn’t have the near-dictatorial power to kill it all by himself.
Once again, a Florida-based gym co-opts the ghost bike movement by placing orange copies around Ann Arbor MI to promote their new location. Maybe they should place orange tombstones, instead; the message to cyclists would be about the same.
A suspected drunk driver is charged with the head-on collision that killed a popular Vermont cyclist after the driver drifted onto the wrong side of the road; in addition to the fatality, he’s charged with his fifth offense for driving with a suspended license. Once again, the system allowed a dangerous driver to remain on the road, legally or not, until he killed someone.
Writing for the Washington Post, New York’s Bike Snob says they’re trying to turn us into cars. And that mandatory helmet laws and glow-in-the-dark spray paint show who really owns the roads.
The Atlanta Braves encourage bike riding instead of driving to their new stadium, due to open in 2017. Maybe the Dodgers should demand safer cycling routes to encourage more people to leave their cars at home.
International
British cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins lines up to be the next in a long string of riders to attempt the hour record.
Two Arizona teenagers are arrested for trying to smuggle 3.5 pounds of marijuana across the border hidden in their bike tires; but how was the ride? Mazda is the latest car maker to design a bike, which appears to be a disc-wheeled single speed; I look forward to the day when the Cannibal introduces a new car model.
The driver is described as a male Hispanic, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall, between 180 and 200 pounds with dark hair. He was seen wearing a gray baseball cap, a gray jacket, white t-shirt, and blue jeans.
