As someone who used to ride that stretch of Ohio several times a week, I can attest it would be a huge improvement over the current situation, which varies from wholly inadequate painted bike lanes to nothing.
Unless they’ve added sharrows to Ohio in the years since I stopped riding there, which studies show are literally worse than nothing.
Tell LADOT to add protected bike lanes on Ohio Ave!
LADOT’s Ohio Ave Safety and Mobility Project looks to reimagine Ohio Ave between Westwood and Westgate, as well as surrounding streets, to provide better connectivity between UCLA and areas West of the 405.
The Mobility Plan 2035 – now required under Measure HLA – mandates protected bike lanes between Federal and Westwood. Unfortunately, due to lack of political will, there are no planned bike facilities on Westgate, Rochester, Saltair, or Texas.
Take their survey and ask for protected bike lanes for the entire stretch
Which is something to remember before you get behind the wheel this Friday. Or better yet, a damn good reason not to.
Walk or ride a bike if you can, take transit if you can’t. Or at least try to get home before all the little rugrats hit the pavement just before or after dark.
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The open streets event Active Streets: Corazón del Valle rolls this Sunday, transforming five miles of El Monte and South El Monte streets into a vibrant community space, just in time for Dia de los Muertos.
Thanks to Megan for forwarding this story of a family’s fight to keep their rail bike business going, which she says is a way to preserve rail corridors for future transit use.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Pasadena was set to adopt a Vision Zero plan in all but name at yesterday’s city council meeting, pledging to eliminate traffic deaths and significantly reduce serious injuries by 2035. Let’s just hope they take it more seriously than a certain nearby megalopolis we could name, which only managed to make things worse in a decade of neglect.
Sad news from Bakersfield, where a man riding a bicycle was killed Saturday afternoon when he was run down from behind by a 32-year old woman, who tried to take evasive action after she “suddenly noticed” him while traveling up to 50 mph. Even though a grown man riding a bicycle in broad daylight should have been pretty easy to spot.
Horrible news from San Luis Obispo, where the Executive Director of Bike SLO County has been charged with a single count of a lewd act upon a child, with the victim reportedly under the age of ten; he’s pled not guilty. Let’s hope it’s just a misunderstanding, because there’s not a pit in hell deep enough if he actually did it.
A Seattle bicyclist has launched what he calls a AAA service for ebikes, promising to come to your rescue if you get stranded on your ebike; however, it currently only serves the Seattle area. Although it sounds like reinventing the wheel, since the Better World Club and some regional AAA clubs have done that for years with conventional bikes, and probably now with ebikes, as well.
Close, but no cigar. A Colorado Springs, Colorado TV station repeatedly gets it wrong, saying that bikes aren’t allowed on most streets with a few exceptions, then saying they are — but apparently meant to say it’s only legal to ride on the sidewalk on a handful of streets. I’d say the story was written by AI, but most AI systems would have done a much better job.
Denver opens their final round of ebike rebates for this year, offering qualified residents vouchers up to $950, which can be combined with a state tax rebate of $450. That compares favorably to California’s one successful round of ebike rebates, period.
Particularly now that city officials longer seem to think we need to know such things.
Maybe because it points to what a colossal, stinking mound of crap they’ve given us when it comes to improving traffic safety here in the City of Angels.
Take Vision Zero, for instance.
Please.
In 2015, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti used an executive order to launch “Vision Zero,” an initiative designed to dramatically reduce traffic deaths through a wide-ranging set of proposed improvements to road design, education and more. Despite the aim of eliminating traffic deaths by 2025, road safety took a turn for the worse. This spring, the city released a lengthy audit of what went wrong.
Among the causes: Only half of the listed “actions” were ever completed. The plan lacked a program for accountability among city departments. There was poor coordination and diminishing participation from the LAPD’s traffic division.
In fact, traffic deaths have exceeded murders for the past three years. And already exceed the totals from 2015, with two full months to go.
The same with serious injury crashes, which have topped 1,500 for three years running, and likely will again.
The worst of the worst, though, is the notorious intersection of South Figueroa and Slauson.
Where South Figueroa crosses Slauson Avenue, bad things happen. Over the past four years, the intersection has been the scene of 17 felony hit-and-run collisions and five severe injuries. The crosswalks aren’t safe, either: seven pedestrians have been struck there.
All told, there were 66 serious collisions at the intersection, which is in the Vermont Slauson neighborhood in South Los Angeles, making it the most dangerous in the entire city during that period.
Then again, the rest of the South Figueroa corridor isn’t much better, with the intersections at Manchester, Florence and Gage also making the list.
Sepulveda makes the list three times, as does Western. Roscoe appears twice in just the top four, where it crosses Sepulveda and at Van Nuys.
Surprisingly, Sunset is only on there twice, where it crosses Highland, and a few blocks east at La Brea.
And Hollywood and Highland checks in a number 11. Which means it evidently wasn’t fixed in 2015 when all-way crossing was installed, after all.
So much for assurances from city officials.
Pedestrian deaths have exceeded the pre-Vision Zero totals for every single year after 2015, as have serious injuries and total traffic deaths.
Unfortunately, the stats don’t break out bicycling deaths, so we still don’t know how many bike riders have actually been killed on the mean streets of Los Angeles in recent years.
Tran, who serves as Yaroslavsky’s business development deputy, was taken to a hospital with multiple fractures. Kobe, who was frequently by Tran’s side at community events, died as a result of being struck by the pickup. Tran posted about the incident on Instagram on Oct. 13.
“It was one week ago on Sunday morning that a hit-and-run driver struck me and killed Kobe while starting our morning walk. I sustained three broken ribs, three fractured vertebrae, a fractured fibula and two fractures in my cheekbones that required surgery. Kobe … died at the ER vet,” Tran said. “I’m recovering at home now, mourning the loss of Kobe and trying to make sense of it all. I’ve received countless gifts of flowers, food and care packages and I’m sincerely grateful for belonging to such a generous and caring community. My injuries will eventually heal but the loss of Kobe is a heartache I’ve not felt since the loss of my parents.”
According to the paper, the driver, identified only as a Los Angeles woman in her 30s, allegedly ran the stop sign at Eighth Street and Cloverdale Ave around 8:30 am on Sunday, Oct. 5th.
She stopped briefly after striking them, then left the scene without getting out of her pickup, leaving Tran and her dog lying injured and bleeding in the street. She was released on her own recognizance after turning herself in later that day, pending charges of felony hit-and-run causing injury.
Police don’t believe she was under the influence at the time of the crash, although the delay in turning herself in means she could have had time to sober up, if she was.
If this whole damn thing has left you anywhere near as angry and heartbroken as I am, Tran asks for donations in Kobe’s memory to Queen’s Best Stumpy Dog Rescue, the corgi rescue she volunteers with.
Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, will host a press conference and remembrance today near the site of the crash, at the heartbreaking white PCH Ghost Tire Memorial.
Here is the group’s press release for the event, in case you want to attend all or part of it.
Honoring the Four Pepperdine Students
Killed on Pacific Coast Highway on the 2nd Anniversary of their Passing
October 17, 2025, Malibu, California – On October 17, 2023, four Pepperdine University seniors — Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir, and Deslyn Williams — were struck and killed by a speeding driver on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu while walking along PCH after parking their car. All four were members of the Alpha Phi sorority and beloved members of the Pepperdine community.
Their tragic deaths sparked a wave of grief and outrage throughout Malibu and beyond, renewing calls for safety improvements along PCH — one of California’s most dangerous roadways. The tragedy galvanized city, state, and community leaders to honor the memory of these four young women whose futures were cut short by taking action to prevent future loss of life.
October 17, 2025 is the 2nd anniversary of this tragedy. While the focus of the press event is to remember four young lives tragically cut short–and the work of making progress improvements will never fully measure up to the families’ grief of lives lost–the important work of paying tribute by improving public safety continues. The urgency of improving safety is never more acute than on October 17 when we pause to remember their lives.
When:
Friday, October 17, 2025
Press Conference: 2:30 – 3:00 PM
Remembrance Event: 4:00 – 5:00 PM
Where:
PCH Ghost Tire Memorial
Pacific Coast Highway and Webb Way
Roughly 23661 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90265
PRESS CONFERENCE (2:30 – 3:00 PM)
Officials and advocates will honor the memory of the four Pepperdine students whose lives were tragically lost in 2023 and report on efforts to make the Pacific Coast Highway safer.
Confirmed Speakers:
Bridget Thompson, Roommate and close friends with Niamh, Peyton, Asha, and Deslyn (Opening remarks and emcee)
Senator Ben Allen, California State Senate
Lee Habor, Caltrans Representative
Rep for Supervisor Lindsey Horvath
Captain Jared I. Perry, CHP West Valley Area
Captain Dustin Carr, Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department
Councilmember Doug Stewart, City of Malibu
Michel Shane, Emily Shane Foundation & Fix PCH
David Rolston, Father of Niamh Rolston
REMEMBRANCE EVENT (4:00 – 5:00 PM)
Who: Open to the public — friends, families, students from Pepperdine University, and community members are all invited to attend.
Program:
Moment of Silence
Release of Four White Doves
Music by Skyla Woodward (vocals) and Alima Ovali (guitar), Pepperdine University students
Words of Remembrance: An open mic will be available for anyone wishing to share memories or reflections, guided by an emcee.
This project began as Vinita Weir’s wish, in memory of her daughter, and has since been expanded — at the request of all family members — to honor all four Pepperdine students.
The meeting will take place at the Pacoima City Hall at 13520 Van Nuys Blvd.
Among their primary priorities are,
1. Make LADOT a chartered department that has responsibility to construct and maintain streets property line to property line, moving the Bureau of Street Services under LADOT.
Since being formed in 1979 under City administrative code, LADOT is responsible for planning nearly all of LA’s transportation projects without the ability to construct streets or sidewalks – a responsibility currently given to Public Works in the City Charter. Giving LADOT this authority would align LA with most large cities in the nation, where the department that manages streets safety and traffic flow also has the ability to effectively build and maintain streets and sidewalks.
2. Shore up street funding with a regular percent of city assessed property values.
LADOT and BSS have lost a significant number of staff in recent budgets and do not have the capacity to effectively deliver services in a timely manner. Currently in the City Charter, Parks and Rec and the Library departments are unique in receiving a dedicated percent of all taxable property values which ensures reliable funding for some of LA’s most vital public services. We believe streets, the City’s largest public space, should also be granted this privilege.
3. Change the City budget to a 2 year cycle and formalize a 5 year Capital Improvement Plan.
The benefits of both of these suggestions have been well researched and proposed by other groups, for the simple reason that not all infrastructure projects are going to fit neatly in a single city fiscal year. Long term planning can reduce costs and improve efficiency in delivering projects. While not every City formalizes a CIP in the City Charter, other large peer cities such as NYC, Houston, and San Jose do. A 2-year city budget and 5-year CIP process would allow departments to improve management of projects, staff capacity, and delivery timelines.
4. Replace the board of public works with a director position similar to other City departments.
The Board of Public Works is over 100 years old and has a unique management structure compared to other departments inside the City of LA by reporting to both a board and a director. It is also unique as a vehicle for structuring Public Works. The department should be run by a single director with a clear line of authority between the Mayor’s office, the department, and the Bureaus inside.
City leaders in Leeds, England are calling for banning bicycles and ebikes from one of the busiest main streets in West Yorkshire, even though bikes represent just three percent of the 250,000 people who use the street every week. And once again, bicycles of every kind — both regular bikes and ped-assist ebikes — are lumped together with electric motorbikes, as one woman calls ebikes “a fatality waiting to happen.”
Westminster police busted a man with seven open felony warrants after a brief pursuit on his bicycle, and discovered he was carrying 200 grams of meth, 15 grams of fentanyl and “other items indicative of drug sales,” as well as being a convicted felon in possession of a gun. Although they don’t explain what justification they used to initiate a stop, let alone a police chase.
A pair of San Raphael men were termed “prolific bike thieves” after they were busted for stealing a number high-end ebikes, with police saying they had been arrested many times before for bike theft and drug possession.
A new lawsuit alleges an NYPD officer intentionally swerved into a man as he was riding a mo-ped against traffic in a bike lane; the cop reported he swerved to avoid the victim, but surveillance video exactly the opposite.
The fiancée of a fallen North Carolina bicyclist tries to turn tragedy into life saving by urging the city council to use his death, as well as two other bicyclists who were also killed by a dump truck driver, as a catalyst to improve safety on local roads.
It all starts when the woman walked up to people working the race, asking if there are any men competing in the women’s race.
When one man says no, to the best of his knowledge, she asks if the competitors have been “sex tested” to ensure they’re really women.
As if.
One of the volunteers takes offense and holds her hand over the woman’s phone, telling her not to record her. She responds as if she’s somehow being violently assaulted, running away and calling out to another woman for help.
The video ends when a man gets in her face and telling her to “get the fuck out of here.” Which, in all honesty, is probably exactly how I would have responded.
In a second video, she accuses the same man of attacking her with an empty Costco pizza box. If by attacking, she means simply holding it up to block her camera, while she demands to know his name “for the police report.”
She also says that someone stole her signs. Although if that happened, it was after I stopped watching because I just didn’t have the stomach for it.
According to Fox News, though, the incident is being investigated by the local police. Because apparently, they don’t have any real crimes to deal with.
To me, she comes off as a Karen who intentionally instigates the entire incident by harassing people just trying to support a local bike race. And this country is divided enough without creating incidents to elicit your own faux outrage.
Let alone a national news network blowing it out of any rational proportion.
But you can watch it and decide for yourself.
Who are these lunatics??
After I get my phone back, I walk up to the race organizer who attacked me to ask for his last name for the police report.
And then he attacks me again with an empty @Costco pizza box before stealing my signs. Why are these so angry at women? pic.twitter.com/DCwvHBG9RW
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here, either. Cupertino is weighing a number of proposals to weaken the city’s Bicycle Pedestrian Commission, to “ensure equal representation on large infrastructure projects between drivers and pedestrians.” Because evidently, all those poor, put-upon drivers just don’t have enough of the roadway as it is, and have to risk their safety every day sharing the road with people walking or on bicycles.
Palo Alto is weighing options for tunnels for pedestrians and bike riders under the local railroad tracks, or possibly a centerline bike lane on a bridge over the tracks. Even though tunnels tend to get filled with trash, and are significantly safety-challenged, especially for women and particularly at night. And just ask San Francisco bike riders whether center-running bike lanes are a good idea, after they were ripped out on Valencia Street because nearly everyone hated them.
More proof that bikes are good for business. A new study shows that bicycling is now one of Iowa’s top 50 industries, generating $1.4 billion in economic impact affecting all 99 counties, with the biggest gains in the service and retail sectors, such as restaurants, bars and bike shops.
Police in Milwaukee may be close to solving the brutal murder of an 18-year old woman who disappeared after going for a bike ride 46 years ago, after DNA testing pointed a finger at a 22-year old man who committed suicide in 1980; investigators got a search warrant to exhume his grave for DNA samples.
Philadelphia is getting a speed cam on a second dangerous street, after seeing significant safety improvement following the installation of speed cameras on another deadly street five years ago. To which Los Angeles responded <crickets>.
Nice guy. A suspected hit-and-run driver faces charges for resisting arrest, after police investigating the crash that killed a 19-year old Pennsylvania man riding a bicycle had to force their way into his home, then carry him out when he refused to cooperate.
The Transportation Committee is hearing three items this Wednesday. One would support wider bike lanes, another would create a pilot program pedestrianizing 6th St in Koreatown, and a third is an update on implementing speed cameras.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Make public comment in person:
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Room 401, City Hall
200 North Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
If you can’t attend, please comment publicly on the council file, provided in our toolkit here.
A Baltimore, Maryland man is facing $2,000 in fines and hundreds more to get his bike back, after a couple misguided cops who apparently have never heard of an ebike slapped him with ten traffic tickets and impounded his bike, insisting it was an unregistered motor vehicle.
Because it has an electric motor.
One that makes it a Class 2 ebike under Maryland law.
And yes, he was literally laughed out of the DMV when he went to register it.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
An English county councilor was left fuming after the council leaders dropped bicycling safety improvements from plans to remake a dangerous intersection because of “rising costs and limited funding” — apparently without consulting her or the rest of the council.
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Local
Spectrum News 1 talks with the general manager of Bikes and Hikes LA about calls for better bike safety in West Hollywood, while a Sheriff’s spokesman says bicyclists and pedestrians have the same rights as drivers, but far fewer protections. To which virtually anyone who has ever ridden a bicycle would respond, “Tell me about it.”
Portland, Oregon has hosted an official City Bike Bus each month since June, concluding next month. If I held up one finger, that would be one more time than Los Angeles has hosted one. And you can probably guess which finger I’d hold up.
British Olympic bike hero Sir Chris Hoy’s inaugural fundraising ride raised more than £2 million — the equivalent of over $2.7 million — for cancer charities, as he said it’s possible to “live well and lead a happy life” with the disease, despite his devastating diagnosis with stage four prostate cancer.
Seriously? Not only did a 2012 Sonoma Press Democrat article about fan activities for the late, great Amgen Tour of California inexplicably pop up on a Google search for today’s bike news, most of the story was hidden by the paper’s paywall. Because evidently, they still want you to pay to read 13-year old stories.
August 13, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on WeHo’s Erickson decries needless safety delays & joins Streets For All happy hour, and SAFE celebrates 10 years
Day 225 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
………
He gets it.
Writing in the LGBTQ journal Los Angeles Blade, West Hollywood City Councilmember and California State Senate candidate John Erickson says California is failing by allowing personal politics to get in the way of “implementing the simplest, most straightforward ideas — even when it means saving lives.”
He uses the example of Fountain Ave, pointing out that one of his first proposals after joining the council was to add protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks and traffic calming on the deadly corridor.
Something that the public supported, and which passed the council unanimously — yet six years later, nothing has changed.
As Erickson writes,
I believe it is because in our car-centric society, age-old ideas of public safety and interpersonal politics have gotten in the way of upholding the first responsibility of an elected official: to keep people safe. In the meantime, multiple people have been struck and killed by cars on Fountain Avenue, the most recent happening right across the street from my home. Every day we delay implementing the changes we approved years back, we are jeopardizing people’s lives, and as one public commenter said at our last city council meeting, the process is killing people.
This is not just a West Hollywood problem. This is a California problem. Across our state, commonsense projects that would make communities safer, greener, and more livable are caught in an endless tangle of redundant approvals, over-engineered reviews, and bureaucratic inertia. We’ve built a system that treats progress—even public safety—as something to be studied into submission rather than acted upon with urgency.
Amen, brother.
He proposes four simple steps to keep this from happening — “not just for Fountain Avenue, but for every community waiting on a safer crosswalk, a protected bike lane, a new housing development, or a climate-resilient infrastructure project.”
Set clear timelines for infrastructure changes—and stick to them.
Limit duplicative votes.
Empower staff to act.
Adopt “safe streets first” protocols.
I have no idea how many lives have been lost on Fountain over those long six years. But even if it was only one, it’s still one too many.
Never mind every other safety and infrastructure project throughout the state that has been needlessly delayed at the expense of human lives.
I can’t say with any assurance if Blake Ackerman, or anyone else, could have been saved if the changes to Fountain had moved forward years ago.
But I do know this would be a better world if they were all still with us.
Let’s make sure Blake Ackerman’s ghost bike is the last one Fountain Ave will ever see.
— Why you should have a cat (@ShouldHaveCat) August 7, 2025
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Apparently, it’s happened again. Police in Edmonton, Alberta are looking for witnesses after a man says he was intentionally run down by a driver while he was riding his bike, while someone in the passenger seat appeared to giggle while recording the crash; no word yet on whether it was a stolen car, but that would fit the pattern of the online challenge.
A Scottish bicyclist received a “fair settlement” after he was injured riding his bike into a rope strung between two traffic cones on an improperly marked street closure, even though no one ever took accountability.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Sad news from Bakersfield, where a man was killed by driver after allegedly riding his bike through a stop sign. As always, how accurate that is depends on whether there were independent witnesses to the crash, or if the cops are relying on the word of the only person involved who actually survived the crash.
An 88-year old Boulder, Colorado man died after he allegedly blew through a stop sign on his bicycle, and was struck by a pickup driver. Because 88-year old men are known for their reckless flaunting of traffic safety rules, evidently.
Speaking of Toronto, the city is rolling out a new bike lane campaign with rhymes like “You’ve got wheels, they’ve got heels,” “It’s a real pain when you stop in the bike lane” and “If it takes gas, it moves too fast for the bike lane.”
Former pro Lizzy Banks says something has to change after she lost her fight to avoid a two year ban for using a prohibited diuretic, after convincing British authorities it was the result of contamination through no fault of her own; the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Court of Arbitration for Sport disagreed.
And if you’re going to shove a deputy after getting 86’d from a restaurant for taking a swing at another customer, try not to fall off a stolen ebike making your getaway.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Day 197 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Let’s call this a trial balloon.
For years now, I’ve been calling for an end to hit-and-runs, in a region where nearly half of all collisions end with a fleeing driver, according to a report from LA Weekly that is no longer online.
Although to be fair, the LAPD has consistently said that roughly 33% percent of all collisions are hit-and-runs, based on COMPSTAT data, less than 10% of which ever get solved. In fact, most are never investigated if someone isn’t dead or seriously injured
But either way, it’s too damn high.
While the legislature has worked around the edges to address the problem, those efforts haven’t gone nearly far enough to put the slightest dent into the problem.
So I’m proposing a simplified version of the reforms I’ve been calling for, to see what you think, before I try starting a petition and taking it to legislators and advocacy groups.
You can leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Make the penalty for hit-and-run equal to the penalty for DUI, including fines, jail time and license suspensions, to remove one of the primary incentives to flee.
Anyone who leaves the scene of a KSI crash — Killed or Serious Injury — will automatically have their license revoked by the DMV, regardless of any criminal conviction or plea,
Anyone who leaves the scene of a KSI crash will have their car impounded as evidence once it’s found; upon conviction, the car will be sold and the proceeds donated to a victim’s fund, after any loans or liens are payed off.
Prosecutors should have the option of charging drivers with 2nd degree murder, or attempted murder, for making the conscious decision to flee and leave the victim to suffer the consequences.
That’s it.
It is, admittedly, a tough approach.
But it’s the only approach I’m aware of that will remove the incentive to flee, while making the penalty harsh enough to make drivers think twice. Or three times, even.
And let’s be honest. Anyone who flees a serious crash has already demonstrated that they can’t be trusted to be obey the law, and shouldn’t be allowed on the streets.
And I promise that’s the last time I’m going to use the phrase Mid-City here. Unless it isn’t.
As I recall, the project was originally proposed in those heady days before the pandemic, so it’s been in a works for quite awhile.
The neighborhood greenway will be one of the city’s few examples of a bicycle boulevard, or a series of bicycle priority streets, similar to Santa Monica’s successful Michigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway, aka MANGo.
It will run on on Rosewood Ave, Formosa Ave and Orange Drive to connect La Cienega and Hollywood boulevards, through a series of diverters, traffic circles and protected bike lanes to provide a low-stress, relatively carfree route through the Mid-City area.
Oops.
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Streets For All says we can do better than an unprotected bike lane on Alameda and Spring streets, and want you to tell LADOT so.
.@LADOTofficial is working to improve safety and mobility along Spring and Alameda St. The Mobility Plan 2035 calls for an unprotected bike lane and pedestrian improvements – but we can do better! Ask for protected bike lanes by taking their survey: https://t.co/xoDsE5qYt8pic.twitter.com/FghvI02qAP
More on the complaints from business owners on Black Mountain Road in San Diego’s Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood, who somehow don’t think their businesses can survive the loss of just 30 to 40 parking spaces. As if their customers won’t walk a few more feet to visit them, and a safer road for bike riders doesn’t offer the potential to bring them far more customers.
New Mexico’s Picuris Pueblo, one of 21 Native American nations that have survived for centuries in the region, is investing in its own community with the newest bike park in the US, which will open with a competition offering more than $8,000 in total prize money.
The organizers of British Columbia’s Okanagan Granfondo are under fire following a crash killed one man and injured two others when a driver slammed into a group of riders, and organizers allowed the fondo to continue as if nothing happened.
If cycling events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics remain on the current dates, it could conflict with the Tour de France, forcing the ’28 Tour to start weeks earlier and throwing off the year’s entire cycling calendar.
July 15, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Ghost bike and rally for fallen WeHo bike rider, the worst states for bike commuters, and LA pays dearly for Deadly del Mar
Day 196 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
A ghost bike will be installed tomorrow at 9 am in a small ceremony at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street. The public is welcome to attend.
A larger vigil will be held on Friday, July 18th, starting at 6 pm at Fountain and Gardner, followed by a short march to West Hollywood City Hall for a rally and press conference. Everyone is urged to attend and participate.
And I do mean everyone.
And yes, that includes me this time.
Meanwhile, a crowdfunding page to raise funds to support Blake’s mother and sister has raised nearly $160,000 of the newly increased $200,000 goal.
There’s still no word on the identity of the heartless coward in a white, older-model BMW sedan who left Blake Ackerman in the street.
It’s also worth taking some time to look over WeHo’s two-year old Vision Zero Plan. Because Fountain isn’t the only street that needs to be fixed before it’s too late.
Again.
Photo of Blake Ackerman in better days from GoFundMe page.
Vermont was rated the best state for bike commuters, followed by Oregon, Minnesota, Alaska and West Virginia.
………
They get it.
Streets For All says Los Angeles is caught in a money-draining spiral of spending millions to pay for deaths and injuries caused by our dangerous streets, rather than spending to fix the streets and avoid the damn injuries in the first place.
As a prime example, they call out Playa Vista’s Deadly del Mar, aka Vista del Mar, where 20 people have been killed in the past 20 years.
That includes five deaths since 2017, when the city briefly installed safety improvements following a nearly $10 million settlement for the death of a 16-year old girl, which were promptly ripped out at the order of former “World Climate” Mayor Eric Garcetti to appease entitled commuters from Manhattan Beach.
An anonymous source forwards a Reddit post highlighting a problem too many people fail to consider, myself included, as a Deaf Scottish woman posts a plea for a little more consideration from bike riders on shared trails.
I have always relied on a shouted “passing on your left” to warn others of my approach. But neither that nor a bike bell will do any good if the other person can’t hear you.
She then followed up on the over 100 replies her post received with this.
“Thanks all for the comments and insights, really helpful!” she said. “Not intending to diss cyclists or anything; I know people have opinions of them.
“My post genuinely was just asking for a bit of respect/shared responsibility although some people don’t seem to get that my being deaf, they seem to think it’s somehow my fault for nearly getting spooked by someone coming behind me.”
As the person who emailed me points out,
It is an important issue to raise because hearing people don’t often think about the fact that sometimes yelling or a horn is not going to be effective. Deaf people are more likely to respond to lights, but even that might not work if you’re coming up behind someone on a path in the open so slow down and avoid close passes of people moving more slowly than you are.
They also lower cased “Deaf” when the OP clearly identifies as upper case “Deaf” (which is not just a medical condition, but a culture and thus capitalized when someone identifies as part of that culture).
It’s very easy to go through life — and yes, riding a bicycle — seeing it only from the lens of someone who is hearing and sighted. But it’s important that we also consider the needs, safety and dignity of those who aren’t.
In our last episode, we talked to bike activists in two cities who made their own bike lanes with opposite results. soundcloud.com/biketalk/252… @pattybikes.com @cascadebicycleclub.bsky.social @merlinrain.bsky.social @seattlebikeblog.com #bikesky
Streetsblog calls attention to a series of Metro meetings continuing this week and next to discuss the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project, and the Sepulveda Transit rail project to connect the Valley with West Los Angeles, where rich Bel Air residents are demanding an inefficient monorail so no one will have to dig a subway tunnel under their very expensive homes.
Santa Monica hosts yet another in a continuing series of bicycle and pedestrian safety operations in SoCal cities, this time on Friday, July 18, 2025 from 5 am to 8 pm. Even though they say it’s targeted at dangerous driver behaviors, police are legally required to enforce the law equally against all violators, regardless of mode of travel. So ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.
San Francisco wants to expand the Embarcadero protected bike lane, which would require removing up to 30 parking spaces and 15 palms trees. Which is okay because palms are just giant grasses that suck up water and don’t shade anything.
She gets it. A San Francisco letter writer says “If you oppose bike lanes, pedestrian improvements or expanding public transit, you’re voting for more congestion.”
Seriously? A study from a Florida law firm shows that Bay County is the state’s most dangerous county for bicyclists — but instead of demanding safer streets or better drivers, a Florida political site says “wear a helmet.”
“Both [walking and biking] are impacted by the availability of transit, because transit makes it possible to get to your destination on a trip that could involve both walking and transit,” (Martin) Morzynski (of Streetlight Data) said. “The availability of transit will impact this data. The availability of access to transit.”
What is clear is that 9 out of 10 U.S. counties with the highest levels of active transportation — walking and biking — have a population density of at least 4,000 people per square mile. For example, New York County, N.Y., which includes Manhattan, has the highest level of active transportation, where 48 percent of trips are taken via walking, 11 percent are taken by bicycle and 41 percent in an auto.
But while biking and walking as seen as key transportation elements that can benefit from density, those aren’t the only benefits.
Increasingly, walking and biking are seen as key pieces of the overall transportation ecosystem in a region spurring the development of infrastructure like bike lanes, mobility hubs and the advancement of micromobility programs for sharable bikes and scooters. And indeed, public transit is viewed as an enabler of active transportation, since if it were not an option, a number of biking and walking trips would simply become car trips, Morzynski said…
Increasing density can accomplish more than converting car trips to walking or biking. It can also help to solve housing shortages, urbanists have said. Researchers with the Urban Institute have cited studies showing increased density, coupled with reduced parking requirements, help to bring down the cost of housing, while also making smarter use of transit investments.
Metro is choosing parking spaces over a protected bike lane!
Metro is seeking feedback about the North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project. The BRT will add 19 miles of faster and more reliable transit and 22 bus stations between NoHo and Pasadena, connecting Burbank, Glendale, and Eagle Rock.
But…the latest design completely removed the protected bike lane on Glenoaks throughGlendale because it would have required removal of 30% of the on-street parking spaces.
Tell Metro that it’s unacceptable to choose parking over safety, and demand they restore the protected bike lane through Glendale!
There are six Metro community feedback meetings, attend as many as you can, and make your voice heard!
Meeting Details:
Virtual
Thursday, July 10, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Call-in: 213.338.8477
Webinar ID: 849 6832 2391 Link to Join
Pasadena
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Pasadena City College, Circadian Room
1570 E Colorado Bl, Pasadena, CA 91106
Glendale
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Adult Recreation Center
201 E Colorado St, Glendale, CA 91205
North Hollywood
Saturday, July 19, 2025
10:00am – 11:30am
East Valley High School
5525 Vineland Av, North Hollywood, CA 91601
Eagle Rock
Monday, July 21, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Yosemite Recreation Center
1840 Yosemite Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Burbank
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Buena Vista Branch Library
300 N Buena Vista St, Burbank, CA 91505
Thank you for fighting for a safe, sustainable, and equitable future for Glendale and beyond!
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In case you’ve been hiding under a rock lately, it’s Amazon Prime Days, giving you the opportunity to help pay off Jeff Bezos’ recent Venice wedding.
He then tried to walk away from the crash in his bare feet, offering cash to other drivers to give him a ride before flipping them off when they refused.
He was finally taken into custody at gunpoint by CHP officers, reportedly incriminating himself with his own statements afterwards.
Officers wrote a total of 34,548 during the enforcement period that began Wednesday evening and ran through Sunday night, 21,328 of those for issues related to speeding.
And no, I have no idea what “issues related to speeding” means, as opposed to just violating the damn speed limit.
Especially since all you have to do to catch a speeding driver in California is pick one and point a speed gun at them.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Singaporean man filed a pair of formal complaints, alleging that reckless bicyclists and e-mobility users are endangering his pregnant wife by the way they ride on walkways, and leave their bikes blocking the way. Although when I look at the photos he submitted, all I see are hundreds of bicycles safely and considerately parked along the sidewalk, while leaving space for people to pass.
Calbike says don’t believe the misinformation coming from Big Highway — aka companies who profit from highway expansion — about mitigating Vehicle Miles Traveled, or VMT, offering a detailed explainer of why the highway builders are wrong.
Vista will remove berms and bollards from protected bike lanes, just months after they were installed, due to complaints from bicyclists who said they made them feel less safe. Although they don’t seem to have bothered to gather safety stats to determine whether they actually increased or reduced injuries.
The youngest of the four kids who killed an Albuquerque nuclear scientist as he biking to work by — allegedly — intentionally driving into him with a stolen car has been charged with murder, despite being just 12 years old; he was 11 at the time of the crime, and suspected of being involved in a string of burglaries dating back to when he was just ten.
Meanwhile, women are still racing, even if they’re overshadowed by the Tour, as Dutch pro Lorena Wiebes took a crash-filled stage three of the Giro D’Italia Donne, while Britain’s Anna Henderson retained the pink leader’s jersey after a late crash that involved all but 10 riders, resulting in almost the entire peloton receiving the same time.
June 25, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Stop Metro’s induced demand inducing 71 Freeway project, and reinventing upper body bicycle workouts for the first time
Day 176 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
Even though freeway projects go against California’s ostensible commitment to Complete Streets, as well as the state’s pollution and climate goals.
But if it gives drivers a faster commute for a few months until the corresponding crushing increase in traffic makes it worse for the rest of eternity, it’s worth it.
Right?
Tell the CTC: No More Freeway Widening!
The California Transportation Commission (CTC) on Thursday is considering funding (tab 21) widening the 71 freeway in Pomona (State Route 71 Gap Closure Project – Phase 2), a project being proposed by Metro Los Angeles.
This is Destruction For Nada! The expensive trend of disastrous highway widening projects must stop.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Tell the CTC that you DO NOT support freeway widenings! Let’s use that funding on sustainable projects instead.
Never mind that they keep running into the recurring problem that handlebars already serve a purpose, which isn’t helped if the damn things keep moving on you.
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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 Eugene, Oregon TV station reports on a “vehicle versus bicycle crash,” which apparently had no humans involved in or on either vehicle. Although their primary concern is just warning drivers about the traffic inconvenience, rather than any potential risk to human life or anything.
No bias here, either. A radio station on the Isle of Man released a petition calling for banning bike riders from a 13-mile roadway, claiming it’s too dangerous for bikes and cars to share — which garnered a whopping 200 signatures, representing less than 0.25% of the island’s population. Something tells me they’d get more signatures if they called for banning cars, instead.
Bicycling offers tips on how to survive riding in the heat now enveloping more than half the country. But it doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else, so you may have to bake of the magazine blocks you; my best advise is to ride early or late, drink plenty of water, and stick to shaded routes if you ride midday.
Santa Fe, New Mexico will consider adopting a Vision Zero program this week. But it comes too late to save a 42-year old competitive cyclist, staple of the city’s pickleball scene, and veteran of the famed Little 500, who was killed by a driver while riding his bike last week.
Colorado will celebrate the summer Bike to Work Day today, offering the second part of their twice-yearly Bike Day schedule. Never mind that Los Angeles, with its ideal weather and mostly flat terrain, barely observes one Bike to Work Day anymore, let alone two.
Cheyenne, Wyoming is hosting a Bike to Work Day of their own today. Which is only surprising if you ever tried riding the extremely bike-unfriendly, cowboy-centric home of the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo back in the day, which I was only brave enough to attempt once.
A New York grand jury indicted a 54-year old man for murder, manslaughter, unlawful fleeing a police officer, leaving the scene of an incident, and assorted other related crimes, for allegedly killing a 36-year-old woman riding a bicycle while he was fleeing from the cops.
CalBike and other advocates had a modest ask from California’s nearly $20 billion 2025 transportation budget: give back $400 million stripped from the Active Transportation Program (ATP) in 2024, as the legislature promised to do in last year’s budget. Yet the legislature’s version, released today, includes no additional funding for the ATP.
Last year’s cutbacks limited the program to funding just 13 projects for safe biking and walking infrastructure across the state. The missing funds could immediately jumpstart 30 local infrastructure projects that applied for funding and are ready to break ground.
That $400 million works out to just two percent of the massive transportation budget.
Two. percent.
Also known as a rounding error in the whopping $321.9 billion state budget. But the state would rather go against its own climate goals to keep funding highways, at a time when the state is literally burning.
So if you don’t feel comfortable on California streets, you can rest easy knowing that drivers will still be able to go zoom zoom, thanks to the money that didn’t go to improve your safety.
At least until induced demand catches up with them.
Although you can probably guess how many Class IV bike lanes Caltrans built between 2018 and 2023, after the legislature approved them in 2015.
Yep. Just this side of zero.
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Streets For All asks you to support three bike-related issues at Wednesday’s joint meeting of the Los Angeles City Council Transportation and Public Works committees, in person or by commenting in advance.
Item #5 looks at using cameras to better enforce bike lanes, item #14 would assign the maintenance of bike paths and lanes to Public Works, and item 15 is the long awaited HLA implementation ordinance.
The Studebaker Road Complete Streets Project brings corridor-wide infrastructure improvements to Studebaker Road, spanning nearly five miles from 2nd Street to Carson Avenue. This initiative aims to enhance mobility, safety, and efficiency for residents and visitors who travel along the corridor.
By building a safer, more accessible active transportation network, the project will transform an area currently dominated by car travel. The corridor connects key destinations, including Long Beach City College, CSULB, McBride High School, Sato Academy, Tincher Prep, El Dorado Park and Library, Alamitos Bay, and the 2nd and PCH retail center. These improvements will benefit pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers alike, fostering a safer, healthier, and more inclusive Long Beach.
This project is part of the Elevate ’28 Infrastructure Investment Plan, a historic initiative dedicated to enhancing Long Beach parks, community facilities, mobility access, and streets. Learn more at lbelevate28.com.
Join the Culver City Pride Ride on June 28th to roll loud and proud as we celebrate inclusion and diversity in our amazing community! All wheels are welcome, including bikes, e-bikes, scooters, skateboards, rollerblades, roller skates, unicycles, and tricycles. RSVP required. pic.twitter.com/FAmkLDr217
An innocent person once again paid the price for a police chase, after a 68-year old Philadelphia man was injured when a cop chasing a driver crashed into his bicycle, as well as the suspect vehicle, after following the driver into a bike lane; fortunately, the victim was hospitalized in stable condition.
More on the hit-and-run crash that severely injured a staffer for CD5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, and killed her beloved corgi.
