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Alleged killer Playa driver faces 2 prior DUIs, Bass works to keep Forest Lawn deadly, and “tyrannical bike kings” overtake NYC

May 18, 2026 / bikinginla / No comments

I may be wrong.

But somehow, I don’t think this plate I spotted yesterday on motor scooter is an official DMV-issued license plate.

And thanks to everyone who sent items in over the weekend. I’m holding most of it over until tomorrow because of the epic length of today’s post, and my own short attention span.

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This is why people keep dying on our streets.

Police identified the man who ran away from a fatal Playa del Rey collision as 28-year old Moises Santiago Rodriguez Leiva of Canyon Country.

Leiva was arrested three days after the May 3rd crash that killed a one-year old boy and his 25-year old uncle, and injured three others — one critically.

Survivors alleged that Leiva crashed into them in an act of road rage, while driving on the wrong side of the road at a high rate of speed.

The Los Angeles Times reports he was already facing two counts of DUI at the time of the crash, one from June of last year, and another from July, 2024. A judge had issued a bench warrant this January for failing to appear.

His arrest after three days on the run gave him plenty of time to sober up if he had been drinking again prior to the Playa crash. He is currently being held on $200,000 bond as prosecutors ponder charges.

This case raises the question of why drivers are allowed to remain on the road after they’ve been arrested for DUI.

A single arrest should result in the automatic suspension of a driver’s license, at least until the driver appears in court to respond to charges.

If they receive a second DUI before the first case is adjudicated, their license should be physically removed by the judge, and their vehicle impounded until such time as they are acquitted, or complete the sentence from both crimes.

That would have kept Leiva off the road. And chances are, one-year old Roger Sandoval and 25-year old Oswaldo Sandoval would still be alive.

Meanwhile, Streets Are For Everyone offers a guide to the state of DUI in the state of California, as well as the 16 DUI-related bills currently under consideration in the California legislature.

Yes, 16.

I say pass them all, and let the courts figure it out.

I’ve already lost a cousin and a childhood friend to drunk drivers. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to lose another one.

And speaking of drunk drivers, a New York driver plowed into a car while traveling at 108 mph, allegedly under the influence, then continued on into a group of pedestrians, killing two people and leaving three others in critical condition.

But sure, let’s let this guy stay on the road once he makes bail.

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Streets For All alleges Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has intervened to pause, if not halt, the safety work scheduled for Forest Lawn Drive.

According to the traffic safety PAC, Bass reached out to StreetsLA to order a delay in the project at the request of Forest Lawn and Mount Sinai cemeteries, as they apparently attempt to increase their business by killing more of us off.

This project has already been debated for years, and multiple city agencies have concluded that will not only improve safety on Forest Lawn Drive, but won’t significantly interfere with funerals or people going to and from the cemeteries.

And people wonder why nothing ever gets done in this city.

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No bias here.

A New York writer apparently doesn’t like bike lanes.

Or the people who do.

In a New York Post op-ed, the founding president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Greater New York and adjunct fellow of the Manhattan Institute, insists that “tyrannical ‘bike kings'” are taking over the city.

And demanding New Yorkers give up their precious traffic lanes and parking spaces.

New York City is dealing with elevated crime and disorder, failing and emptying schools, taxpayer flight and a fiscally crunched City Hall.

But our ruling class is targeting the “real” emergency: not enough bike lanes.

Cycling activists and their friends at the Department of Transportation have stepped up their crusade against the existential threat of the four-wheeled vehicle, imposing street-redesign plans on neighborhoods, whether residents want them or not.

It gets worse.

The bike kings go to communities with glossy presentations stuffed with buzzwords — “traffic-calming redesign,” “rebalancing public space,” “reimagined corridors.”

Translation: Your car, delivery truck or Access-A-Ride van — no longer welcome…

And if residents object? Dismiss them as backward, selfish or (worse) suburban-minded.

Face it.

We’re all overprivileged corporate types who don’t care if grandma makes it to her doctor appointment because there’s no parking space for her car. All we care about is reducing traffic lanes to reduce the number of cars.

Never mind that maybe the 81-year old woman with a walker she cites probably shouldn’t be driving in the first place.

Because apparently, bike riders aren’t bus boys. Or college students. Or seniors trying to keep their weight and blood pressure down.

Or maybe just people who don’t want to get killed or maimed riding from here to there. And no self-respecting Chinese American would ever be caught dead on a bicycle.

Right?

But that’s the problem when you see the world in terms of stereotypes. You don’t see people. You see two-dimensional cardboard cutouts who can’t possibly understand your problems, or your perspective.

And you end up talking past one another, instead of with one another.

New York doesn’t need streets designed to conform to the cyclist ideology. It needs streets that make possible greater circulation, commerce and access.

Residents should say no to senseless bike-lane expansion.

Because a city that can’t move and accommodate the people who actually live and work in it isn’t “reimagined.”

It’s just stuck.

Yet somehow, the people going by in the bike lane aren’t “stuck.”

They’re moving. They’re breathing.

They’re living.

And they’re your neighbors.

You know, like us.

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No bias here, either.

According to the London Telegraph — a bike friendly publication once upon a time — the medieval town on Windsor, home to the famous castle that’s home to the royal family, is being overrun with cyclists.

Make that middle-aged men in Lycra, aka MAMILS.

They are drawn on the 62-mile round trip ride from London because a Windsor cafe is offering a whopping ten percent discount on all drinks and food for anyone who arrives in Lycra, otherwise known as spandex on this side of the Atlantic.

But what some might see as a smart special to draw visitors to town, is somehow an invasion of law-breaking scofflaws who never met a red light they liked.

The paper somehow found a 79-year old woman who apparently doesn’t think it’s fair that bicyclists pay just 90% of the menu price. Never mind that locals get the same deal, Lycra or not, while tourists pay full freight.

However, the growing number of cyclists has coincided with a spate of rule-breaking on London’s roads. Traffic lights and zebra crossings are frequently ignored by some cyclists, leading police to consider tougher penalties for those who break the law…

Meanwhile, councils have been accused of waging a war on motorists in an effort to promote cycling, walking and other forms of “active travel” as part of efforts to tackle climate change…

In Windsor, though, the cyclists keep on coming – not for the castle but for cut-price coffee.

All that, because some local cafe came up with a successful promotion.

And chances are, a few of the people on bicycles may happen to notice the castle while they’re there.

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A 37-year old Santa Monica woman was arrested for suspicion of bicycling under the influence after she allegedly kept riding after colliding with a car, causing minor damage.

Demonstrating once again that a) it is against the law to bike while drunk or stoned, even if the penalty is less than it is for DUI, and b) you are required to stop after a collision, just like drivers are.

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

You’ve got to be kidding. A North Carolina bike rider was handcuffed when cops arrived on the scene and assumed he was an aggressor — even though he was actually the victim of a collision; police swore he was actively resisting. I’d be actively resisting, too, if I got handcuffed for getting hit by a driver.

You’ve got to be kidding, part two. A bike rider in Edinburgh, Scotland was held 50% responsible for getting doored by the driver’s insurance company, which ruled he should have been riding further away from the car.

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

A Redditor complains that her bicyclist boyfriend encouraged her to buy a bike, then came up with reasons why it was impossible to ride together. Hint: Dump the guy, keep the bike.

A 24-year old Cincinnati man was busted for grabbing ass as he rode by women on his ebike, including local comedian Kelly Collette.

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Local

Streetsblog will host the great D-Line Dash tomorrow, pitting a bike rider against people driving and taking the subway from Beverly Hills to DTLA. My money’s on the subway, followed by the bicycle.

The LAPD busted a suspected shooter after a ten-minute chase that began near Fountain and Formosa avenues, then crossed over into West Hollywood as the suspect jumped on a bicycle — which may or may not have been his — and ended in WeHo’s Plummer Park.

South Pasadena approved a Complete Streets concept for South Huntington Drive, but council members were unable to reach a consensus on how to improve Fremont Ave.

Pasadena residents gathered Saturday to build more than 100 bicycles for the twice-yearly Eva Lin Team’s Charity Bike Build to ensure every child who wants a bicycle can have one.

That doesn’t sound good. A Saugus bicyclist was seriously injured after landing a jump at the Haskell Canyon Bike Park neck first.

This is who we share the road with. Two Valencia teenagers were arrested for an intentional assault on a peace officer when one of the teens swerved his dirt bike into the deputy’s motorcycle, causing the cop to crash.

Harrison Ford is one of us, taking to mountain biking in the Santa Monica Mountains following his 2015 plane crash.

State

The Orange County Transportation Authority and the City of Mission Viejo teamed up to host the “Pedal La Paz Road” Bikeway Demonstration Event on Saturday, demonstrating how cities can rethink wide arterial roads to prioritize safety, accessibility, and mobility for everyone, even as nearby Fullerton continues to struggle with disconnected bikeways.

The Cyclovia Encinitas returned to the coast highway for the 6th consecutive year.

This is who we share the road with, too. A driver was arrested after plowing through a group of people standing outside an Oakland market, killing three people and injuring five others; the juvenile alleged killer attempted to flee the scene, but was captured by witnesses.

After a 1,550-mile bike ride from Venice to Athens, a couple who originally met in San Francisco realizes that getting married probably won’t be the hardest thing they do. Although based on 27 years of matrimonial hindsight, I’d say the bike ride is way easier.

Sacramento bike riders decorated their bikes with bright lights and loudspeakers, and wore colorful outfits, Friday night for the monthly Big Party Sacramento.

Davis residents were warned to be careful riding after a mountain lion was spotted near a popular bike path. If you encounter a mountain lion, or any kind of wild cat, remember you can’t outrun it. So stay still, try to make yourself look as large as possible, yell loudly, and if you have anything you can throw at it, do it.

National

Redditors say wiggle your handlebars, or maybe your butt, to add an air of unpredictability and encourage drivers to give you a little more space on the road.

Life is cheap in Las Vegas, where a man is looking for answers after the driver who killed his bike-riding wife two years ago walked without a day behind bars, and a lousy 100 hours of community service and a $1,140 fine, despite an original charge of manslaughter.

A Detroit man learns the hard way that if you’re going to lead a life of crime, leave your distinctive ebike at home.

The New York Times Wirecutter newsletter offers tips to make bicycling less intimidating. Although what could be less intimidating than just getting on a bike and turning the pedals?

Amazon is using big box ebikes for last-mile deliveries in DC. And yes, they do actually have to be pedaled, albeit with a pedal-by-wire drivetrain.

Savannah, Georgia cops finally got their man — or woman, in this case — nearly two years after a hit-and-run driver killed a 37-year old man riding a bicycle; the 29-year old driver was charged with vehicular homicide, as well as attempting to coverup evidence of the crime.

At a time when our government is kicking refugees from “shithole” countries out of ours, a former competitive cyclist is helping Georgia refugees get on a bicycle by refurbishing donated bikes to provide them with reliable transportation.

A Florida triathlete is recovering after she was sideswiped by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bike, suffering an extensive list of serious injuries, but credits her helmet with saving her life; a crowdfunding campaign has raised over $52,000, topping the $50,000 goal.

International

Just in time for Metro’s not Bike to Work Day, Road.cc offers tips on how to avoid common bike commuting mistakes.

Bike lock manufacturer Litelok is offering a real-time look at where bike thefts are occurring so you can avoid hotspots. That’s easy. Everywhere.

Road.cc guides you through the weird, wacky and wonderful world of alternative bike seats.

While US cities are cracking down on ebikes, a UK petition is calling for raising speeds for ped-assist ebikes to 20 mph.

LA bike riders have to worry about car horns, while British riders are concerned with cow horns in the countryside this time of year.

An Irish couple shares the lessons they learned by bicycling 7,500 miles around the world, including “don’t camp with bears” and “it really is all in your mind.” Not to mention your thighs. And butt. And calves. And back. And…

France is offering the equivalent of $4,600 to trade in your car for an ebike.

Spanish bicyclists will continue to be expected to use the shoulder, but only when it’s passable and never if there’s a separated bikeway — and they’ll be fined if they ride the shoulder when there is a bike path

Bicyclists in Jerusalem are pushing for a more bike-friendly city, as a massive annual event drew bicyclists out to the streets.

Israel is set to mandate license plates for all e-scooter and ebike riders, but the plates will apply to the rider, not the bike, so you could apparently transfer your license from one vehicle to another.

China is starting to leave the Western bicycle industry behind, just like the country is doing with electric vehicles.

An 81-year old San Francisco man is now leading Tokyo bike rides of up to 35 miles on behalf of the fittingly named Half-Fast Cycling.

Frustrations are growing over Japan’s new policy of fining bicyclists for a host of violations, with some people believing the fines go too far and others who think they don’t go far enough, even though most people think they’re about right. Meanwhile, bicyclists also have to deal with fake cops fining riders on the spot.

Aussie bike shops faces fines up to $1.1 million for selling fixies without front and rear brakes, as well as meeting a host of other standards.

Competitive Cycling

Good for them. Two Cycling Canada board members resigned from the national sport organization in response to the decision to not field a women’s team pursuit squad in the world championships or the upcoming ’28 Olympics.

Seven-time-ex-Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong is helping to design the mountain biking course for the LA Olympics, after the LA Olympic Committee was apparently unable to find any non-dopers willing to do the job.

Nineteen-year old Danish wunderkind Albert Withen Philipsen was lucky to escape without major injuries following a training crash at 50 mph, even if he’s been left “mummified” in bandages.

Once again, stupid, idiotic, no-good “fans” have interfered with the peloton, as two 19- and 20-year old men were arrested for stepping onto the roadway during the Giro, and reaching out towards the riders.

Finally…

Now you, too, can take a biking vacay just like Richard Branson. Now you, too, can help a bike rider through cartoon traffic, even if the situation is anything but funny.

And you, too, could have had a painting of a bike rider being abducted by aliens.

But you’re too damn late, because someone already bought it.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: anti-bike bias, bicycling, bike lanes, Bureau of Street Services, drugged driving, drunk driving, DUI, Forest Lawn Drive, Karen Bass, Los Angeles, Moises Santiago Rodriguez Leiva, New York City, Playa del Rey, Streets Are For Everyone, Streets For All, StreetsLA, Vista del Mar

Bad ebike bills bite the dust, Florence-Firestone ride goes up against Ride of Silence, and past and future OC & Ventura County rides

May 15, 2026 / bikinginla / One comment

Just a couple quick notes today.

I’ve been battling a migraine all week, and the meds finally got to me today; I’ve been barely conscious and mostly incoherent all day.

And to be honest, I’m not in a good place mentally. Sometimes I feel like I’m just shouting into the wind, which is the most polite — and hygienic — way I can put it right now.

After two decades of doing this, it seems like we’re just as far from getting anywhere as we were when I started.

Or maybe I’m just down because I’m not riding a bike these days; if I stay on my current meds, there’s a good chance I’ll never ride again. You’ll know I’ve given up when my bikes aren’t hanging in a corner of my apartment anymore.

Maybe someone can start a GoFundMe to pay for my next tatts, which will remind me a) not to judge others, and b) life is good.

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

I’ll see you on Monday.

And I promise to be in a better place.

………

However, on the plus side, a couple of bad ebike bills went down in flames at the state legislature Thursday.

Twitter post

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On the downside, what should be good news is less so just because of timing.

According to the LA Times The Wild newsletter, a Los Angeles advocacy group is holding a “colorful” ride through Florence-Firestone on Wednesday, which sounds like a celebration of bicycling.

1. Illuminate the streets of Florence-Firestone
People for Mobility Justice, an L.A.-based transportation equity collective, will host a bike ride from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday starting at Ted Watkins Memorial Park. Riders are encouraged to decorate their bikes with colorful and creative lights for this free Glow Ride through the streets of the Florence-Firestone neighborhood. Register at eventbrite.com.

Except the third Wednesday of May is the annual Ride of Silence, the one day each year reserved for silent and sober rides to remember those who have lost their lives to traffic violence while riding their bikes.

And we have a lot to remember. We’re already up to 30 souls lost while riding this year, putting us on a pace for nearly 90 deaths this year if we keep up at this pace.

To be honest, I haven’t heard of any local rides yet, but they do tend to come together at the last minute. So if you’re holding a ride, or know of one, let me know and I’ll mention it next week.

So maybe it’s just me, but the Florence-Firestone ride seems kind of disrespectful.

……….

Finally, let me share a couple of press releases I received this week, one from the Orange County Transportation Authority about a Bike Week ride in the OC; the other about the expansion of a popular San Diego ride into a second edition in Ventura County next month.

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More than 130 Cyclists Roll through Orange
for OCTA Bike Rally

The annual Bike Rally features a 4-mile ride, and there’s still time to pledge to bike during May for a chance to win an e-bike while staying active

ORANGE – More than 130 cyclists took to the streets of Orange early Wednesday morning, riding together in a show of community spirit and support for active transportation as part of OCTA’s annual Bike Rally, a signature event celebrating May as Bike Month.

The 4-mile group ride began at the Orange Metrolink Station and traveled through city streets and a slice of Santa Ana to OCTA headquarters, highlighting how easy, accessible and enjoyable biking can be for commuting, recreation and everyday trips across Orange County.

“Events like this are about more than just a ride, they’re about promoting safer streets, healthier lifestyles, and more transportation choices,” said OCTA CEO Darrell E. Johnson, who participated in the ride, along with OCTA directors William Go and Mark Tettemer. They were joined at the finish line by OCTA directors Tam T. Nguyen and Kathy Tavoularis for the rally.

The annual rally brings together riders of all experience levels and showcases OCTA’s ongoing efforts to expand safe and convenient biking options throughout the county. Participants enjoyed free Bike Month T-shirts and light refreshments, and were entered for a chance to win prizes, including an Aventon Pace 4 Step-Through e-bike.

While the rally has wrapped up, there is still time for the public to take part in Bike Month. Those who pledge to ride during May can be entered for a chance to win an Aventon Soltera 2.5 e-bike, courtesy of Bike Month sponsors Aventon E-bikes and Spectrumotion.

OCTA continues to encourage residents to consider biking not just during Bike Month, but throughout the year, as an easy, efficient and environmentally friendly way to get around.

Beyond events like the rally, OCTA is investing in projects that make biking safer and more accessible, including protected bike lanes, regional trail connections and improvements that better connect neighborhoods to transit.

Riders are also reminded to make safety a priority. OCTA offers an e-bike safety video with tips for riding responsibly, and those who watch can enter for a chance to win a $100 gift card.

For more information about Bike Month activities or to make a pledge to ride, visit www.octa.net/bikemonth.

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Local Businesses and Organizations Partner with Bike the Coast Ventura Ahead of Inaugural Event

The Ventura community will be represented at the 2026 event through local charities, tourism boards, restaurants and more

VENTURA, Calif. – Bike the Coast Ventura will be hosting their inaugural event on June 13, showcasing the charm of the Ventura community. The event has put a strong emphasis on its local involvement, focusing on building partnerships with businesses and organizations within the Ventura region and authentically connected to the community. Registration for the 2026 event is now open.

This year’s sponsors and partners include Visit Ventura, Downtown Ventura Association, Ventura Coast Brewing Company and Ventura Coast Cycling. The event has also partnered with local charity organizations, including The Los Angeles Chapter of National MS and the Downtown Ventura Foundation. The event will also host Ventura-based band The GAMBLE at their free Finish Festival, which will also include various local food, drink and vendors for riders, spectators and community members to all enjoy.

“Bike the Coast is an event that is meant to be enjoyed by all. We push the idea of this being a ‘ride, not a race’ so that participants can truly take in all that Ventura has to offer, whether it be the scenery or the amazing community that has already been so supportive of our event,” said Mike Bone, president and CEO of Spectrum Sports Management, producer of Bike the Coast Ventura. “Ensuring that this is a community-centric ride is very important to us, and we hope that our participants feel that at our inaugural event.”

The event welcomes riders of all ages and experience levels, offering three course options: the Metric Century 65-mile ride, a 35-mile ride and the rider’s favorite 17-mile family ride. Participants of the Metric Century 65-Mile ride will enjoy a tour of the coastline with some hills in neighboring cities. The 35-mile and 17-mile ride will also highlight constant ocean views along their rules of the road routes. All courses are stocked with support and gear locations to ensure riders are provided opportunities to rest and nourish.

Bike the Coast Ventura is an expansion of the original Bike the Coast event hosted in San Diego County, which is entering its fifteenth year of riding. The growth of the event has led to its expansion into Ventura, where riders are able to enjoy what Bike the Coast is all about: a leisure oceanside ride with a post-race party that gets people to “Come for the Ride – Stay for the Party”. The 2025 Bike the Coast San Diego ride saw great results in fundraising efforts as well, as it raised over $10,000 for Bike MS, a record amount for the event after just three years of partnering with the organization. Bike the Coast is produced by Spectrum Sports Management, a recognized leader in endurance and sporting events in Southern California.

For more information on Bike the Coast Ventura, visit www.bikethecoastventura.com. Follow the event on Instagram and Facebook.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: AB 1557, AB 1942, anti-ebike hysteria, Bike Week, California legislature, Florence-Firestone, OCTA, People for Mobility Justice, Ride of Silence, Ride the Coast, Streets For All

Streets For All legislative agenda speeds safer streets and redefines high-powered e-motos, and April Fools in the bike world

April 2, 2026 / bikinginla / No comments

Chag Pesach Sameach!

………

Streets For All introduced its legislative package for the 2026 session, sponsoring ten bills while requesting a $200 million annual addition to California’s Active Transportation Program.

Among their sponsored bills,

AB 1740 (Zbur) makes it easier to build bike lanes, bus improvements, infill housing, and other multimodal projects in urban coastal communities. Right now, even straightforward street safety projects can get bogged down in the coastal permitting process. This bill would let qualifying urban communities move more quickly on projects that improve safety and reduce emissions, while still preserving coastal access and protections.

AB 1837 (Mark González) extends transit lane and bus stop camera enforcement and makes that authority permanent statewide. Illegal parking in bus lanes and at bus stops slows buses, creates unsafe boarding conditions, and makes transit less reliable. This bill would help keep transit moving and make bus service faster and safer for riders.

AB 1976 (Wicks), the Safe Streets Streamlining Act, tackles the process barriers that delay or kill good street safety projects. It changes local input requirements, ends unreasonable petition requirements for traffic calming, updates the pedestrian mall law, and creates a clearer path for cities to actually deliver the bike, pedestrian, and transit projects they have already said they want. California cannot keep saying yes to safe streets in theory while allowing them to be endlessly blocked in practice.

SB 1167 (Blakespear) cracks down on high-powered “e-motos” being sold as e-bikes. It tightens definitions, changes labeling rules, and requires sellers to clearly disclose when a device is actually a motor vehicle and not a legal e-bike. Real e-bikes are an important transportation tool. But that only works if the category remains clear and trustworthy.

AB 2015 (Wicks) helps cities keep slow streets actually slow by stopping navigation apps from routing cut-through traffic onto neighborhood streets that have been intentionally designed for local access, walking, and biking. If a city has decided that a street should function as a calm neighborhood street, app-based routing should not undermine that decision.

AB 1599 (Ahrens) creates a centralized California Transit Stop Registry. Transit stop data is often fragmented, inconsistent, and confusing across agencies. A statewide registry would make transit data more accurate and useful, improve coordination, and help create a better rider experience. The bill will also help us get more data on what amenities are at transit stops.

SB 1292 (Richardson) gives cities stronger curb management tools to enforce parking violations in places like loading zones, bike lanes, and crosswalks. Curb space matters, and mismanaged curb space creates safety problems, transit delays, and chaos on the street. This bill gives local governments more tools to manage that space better.

AB 2284 (Dixon) requires CHP to publish a list of devices that are being marketed as e-bikes but are not actually legal e-bikes. That kind of transparency would help consumers, schools, local governments, and law enforcement better understand what devices comply with California law and which ones do not.

AB 1833 (McKinnor), the Consumer Driving Data Protection Act of 2026,allows drivers to voluntarily opt into insurance telematics systems, with privacy protections, to better align insurance rates with actual driving behavior. This bill is about allowing safer driving to be reflected more fairly, while preserving strong guardrails around consent, data use, and consumer protection.

SB 1423 (Stern) would steer half of one of California’s biggest transportation funding sources toward projects that actually make streets safer. The bill would dedicate half of STIP funds, one of the state’s largest transportation pots of money, to projects that improve safety for people walking, biking, and taking transit. It would also simplify the application process for the state’s top safe streets grant program and elevate its identity as California’s flagship source of funding for street safety.

Budget Ask: A $200 million annual addition to the Active Transportation Program (ATP), which is our state’s premier pot of street safety funding. Last year, ATP only funded about 30 of the 350 projects that applied.

They’ll host a webinar to discuss their support for the bills on Thursday, April 16th at high noon.

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Pink Bike highlights the best April Fools gags from around the bike industry.

Meanwhile, Road.cc wrote that BP — the former British Petroleum — is encouraging drivers to deal with rising gas prices by skipping the pump and riding a bike instead. Which actually had me fooled at first.

Strava joined in with a gag about opening a dating platform. Although that might not be the worst idea.

Then there was the electrolyte gravy, a fish tank bike saddle and skinsuits that come pre-crashed so you don’t have to worry about messing them up.

On the other hand, an Aussie writer says paying people to ride a bike is no joke, despite what an April Fools gag said.

………

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

An op-ed from the executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association decries demands from the Trump administration for the National Park Service to rip out a popular bike lane that has cut injuries by 91%; meanwhile, Bloomberg’s CityLab considers why Trump’s war on DC streets matters, as the administration exerts control over the city while sidelining its residents.

No bias here. A San Diego letter writer says if you really want to help kids, skip the bike lanes and use the money for libraries, instead. Which sets up a false dichotomy between libraries, which should get better funding, and bike lanes, which improve safety for everyone on the streets, not just kids. Although you’ll have to find a way around the paper’s paywall to read it.

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

Great use of police resources. The Macomb, Georgia Police Department put their new drone to use in less than 24 hours by capturing a 14-year old kid speeding on his ebike. Next they’ll use it to bring in other dangerous desperados, like maybe a bunch of littering nuns.

………

Local

The LA Times examines how to stay safe on an ebike, starting with knowing the difference between a ped-assist bicycle and an electric motorbike.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton takes an in-person look at new protected bike lanes going in on Colorado and Broadway in Santa Monica, and Washington and Adams in Culver City.

State

Orange County’s Newport-Mesa Unified School District is considering a proposal to ban all ebikes for elementary and middle school students, and allow only Class 1 ebikes for high school students with parental consent.

San Francisco’s transportation department is working on plans for hardened daylighting, installing barriers like bike racks or bollards to keep drivers from speeding around the corners newly opened by California’s daylighting requirement.

Longtime Michelin starred San Francisco chef Roland Passot is one of us, balancing work with his passion for road cycling.

National

A prolific Portland burglar will spend the next five years and five months behind bars, after he was convicted for stealing over 30 bicycles and ebikes over a three-year crime spree.

A Eugene, Washington program is teaching residents of homeless shelters how to become bicycle mechanics.

Bodycam video is raising questions about a Texas cop’s takedown of a 16-year old kid, who make the simple mistake of trying to call his dad when the cop stopped a group of teens for rolling a stop sign; after taking the kid down, the cop then seized and searched the boy’s phone without a warrant.

A Providence, Rhode Island event demonstrates Intelligent Speed Assist, which could be authorized to rein in chronic speeding and reckless drivers under a bill in the California legislature, as well.

Life is cheap in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a driver faces just a misdemeanor charge for killing an eight-year old girl riding a bicycle, even though he was driving with a revoked license and an unregistered vehicle — and even though witnesses said he revved his engine and sped up just before the crash.

International

A British bike rider is suing three police departments for the equivalent of $6.35 million, alleging they covered it up when a driver knocked him off his bike; the cops said he just fell off his bike, even though a witness said she saw the driver clip him. Which sounds a lot like when I was run down by a road-raging driver, and the LAPD concluded I somehow defied the laws of physics by falling to the left while making a right turn, but it never occurred to me to sue them.

Bicycling Australia says that country is seeing a renewed interest in bicycling as a result of the fuel crisis caused by the war in Iran, but no full blown bike boom — yet.

Velo considers why bicycling in Taipei feels safer than riding in Portland (scroll down).

China’s longtime bikemaker Flying Pigeon is shedding its traditional image as a self-destructing bicycle-shaped object, and using combination of flexible sensors, artificial intelligence algorithms and the internet of things to redefine the bikes from a simple form of transport into an “intelligent health management terminal.” Unless China Daily is pulling an April Fool’s joke, in which case they got me.

Competitive Cycling

Filippo Ganna overcame a snapped handlebar and late bike change to win Dwars door Vlaanderen, while Swiss cyclist Marlen Reusser shocked herself by winning the women’s edition.

The Athletic looks, not at the pros taking part, but the Belgian super fans on the sidelines of De Ronde van Vlaanderen, aka the Tour of Flanders.

A 17-year British amateur, part of the country’s development team, was left brokenhearted when an insurance company refused to pay for three stolen Pinarello Dogma bikes worth a total of $20,000 because the thieves weren’t violent enough, and just walked away with the bikes instead of breaking in or causing major damage.

Austria’s eight-time national junior was lucky to walk away with a broken arm and a shattered bicycle when he was cut off by a driver on a training ride, and slammed into the back of the driver’s car.

Instagram post

Finally…

Playing bike polo, aka riding a bicycle with a big wooden hammer in your hand. And that feeling when your bike-on-bike collision is memorialized for the masses on Google Street View.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, California legislature, ebikes, Los Angeles, safer streets, Streets For All, traffic safety

LA mayoral race starts with Mayor Bass missing in action, and taking both sides of the K Line Northern Extension debate

March 25, 2026 / bikinginla / No comments

That sound you heard Monday was the official start of the Los Angeles mayoral race.

Normally, any contest with a standing incumbent in Los Angeles makes paint drying seem absolutely thrilling.

Particularly since this year’s race starts with LA Mayor Karen Bass enjoying an eight point lead over her closest opponent.

Except CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman currently has the support of just 17% of eligible voters. Which means that Bass’ seemingly insurmountable lead after four years in office is based on only has 25% support.

And over half of the electorate has a negative opinion of her, making the race anyone’s to claim at this point.

The kickoff for the campaign was Monday’s first debate, sponsored by Streets for All and Housing Action Coalition. Although Bass and reality TV star Spencer Pratt, in third place with 14%, apparently couldn’t be bothered to attend.

Or maybe she was just off on another diplomatic mission, like she was when a large section of the city burned to the ground last year.

According to LAist, the candidates who could be bothered to show up were —

Adam Miller, founder of a homelessness nonprofit and self-described lifelong Democrat, said the city is “broken,” physically and figuratively.
Nithya Raman, an L.A. city councilwoman, said the city is “challenged.”
Rae Huang, a Presbyterian minister, community organizer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, said L.A. needs “new and fresh leadership.”

Apparently, the other 35 candidates qualified for the June primary were also otherwise occupied. Or maybe they just weren’t invited, since their combined support could be listed on the back of a postage stamp.

You know, those sticky things you used to put on snail mail to make it go places.

LA Public Press offers five takeaways from the debate, including a reminder that Nithya Raman has a masters in urban planning from MIT, adding to her urbanist bona fides.

You can watch the full debate below.

Please enjoy that photo of a bass by Gio Spigo from Pexels up there on the left, since Mayor Bass didn’t bother to show up for the debate.

………

Meanwhile, Mayor Bass’ insisted that her stance on the Northern Extension of the K Line is being misrepresented, and she’s really a big ol’ supporter of extending the line.

Twitter post

Except, as Streets For All points out, her support is actually a delaying tactic, calling for extending the line while offering an amendment to approve it without selecting a final alignment, even though it has already been studied to death.

And even though that will just lead to more delays, and a loss of funding.

Apparently, she learned a lot during her time in Washington. Like how to take both sides of an issue.

Twitter post

………

Metro Bike is hosting a virtual meeting at noon today to discuss expanding the city’s bikeshare system.

Twitter post

Meanwhile, Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website takes a look at Prague, Czech Republic’s successful bikeshare system to see what it takes to make one work — starting with broad availability.

………

CicLAvia hosted a recent discussion on the state of open streets in the Los Angeles area, as Metro wants to tie all upcoming events to this summer’s World Cup and the ’28 LA Olympics.

Twitter post

………

Active SGV is hosting a ride on April 4th to check out the new Whittier Narrows BMX pump track.

Twitter post

………

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

The video of Ben Byra and U-23 national crit champ Luke Fetzer being harassed by a road-raging BMW driver in Newport Beach has now been viewed more than eight million times.

………

Local

The deadline for input on the Monrovia Draft Bike Master Plan is this Friday, aka the day after tomorrow. So get it in, already.

State

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is warning parents after a group of kids rode electric motorbikes through a Santee neighborhood performing “dangerous pranks” that they described as “doorbell ditching,” or what we called “ding-dong ditch” back in the Dark Ages. Although granted, no one was riding an overpowered virtual motorcycle or likely to get shot by a frightened homeowner back in the day.

Caltrans intends to install a crosswalk with flashing beacons on PCH near the Neptune’s Net restaurant, just across the Los Angeles County line, where the speed limit is 55 mph. Because of course drivers will screech to a stop from highway speeds for a few beacons flashing in the roadway.

A 46-year old woman died after she was bitten by a rattlesnake in Thousand Oaks’ Wildwood Regional Park, about a week before a teenaged girl was bitten when she fell off her mountain bike in the same area; a Costa Mesa man died after lingering in a coma for weeks when he was bitten while mountain biking in Irvine February 1st.

San Francisco is completely reimagining the city’s Folsom Street with a Complete Street project designed to prioritize non-motorized traffic. Which compares favorably with virtually every street in Los Angeles, where only motorized traffic gets prioritized.

Parking mania raised its ugly head in Santa Rosa, where city officials approved replacing a dying mall’s pedestrian plaza with parking spaces. Raising the eternal question of why a dying mall needs even more parking.

National

A writer for Electrek makes the case for why small, seated scooter-type bikes should be classified as ebikes, even if they don’t have pedals. Call them any damn thing you want, as far as I’m concerned, just not ebikes.

Portland, Oregon is launching a $20 million ebike rebate program offering up to $1,600 for standard ebikes and $2,350 for cargo ebikes. Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, where a nonexistent ebike voucher program provides eligible recipients absolutely nothing.

The Bureau of Land Management is considering opening 220 miles of Colorado offroad trails to ebikes, after opening hundreds of miles around Moab, Utah.

The founder of Strider Bikes recalls how the urge to get his two-year old toddler riding the trails around his Rapid City, South Dakota hometown as soon as possible led to the development of the pedal-less bike that forever changed bicycle training for the training pants crowd.

A New York councilmember wants a bike lane on a major roadway crossing Central Park, arguing that more people would ride if they could get from one end of Manhattan to the other.

A 56-year old Florida driver was arrested following a midnight crash that seriously injured a man riding a bicycle, after police discovered he’d been living under a fake name for 30 years to dodge a 1997 arrest and extradition warrant.

International

Road.cc recommends a dozen of the best pretend bicycling apps, for when you and your bike are both stuck inside.

The head of e-bikeshare firm Bolt says cities need more bike lanes to reduce traffic congestion and pressure on public transportation.

Momentum recommends the best places in North America to see cherry blossoms from your bike, from BC to DC. Or you can just ride your bike anywhere in Los Angeles and see just about everything, flowering or otherwise.

Um, okay. A Vancouver, British Columbia family known for tall bikes has developed a stacked, double-decker tandem that allows riders to switch positions mid-ride, without stopping, and are now working on a four-passenger version.

Must be nice. The Edinburgh, Scotland city council is fighting back against accusations of covering up figures suggesting a decline in bicycling rates, arguing that the bike network is pulling its weight, and the city needs more bikeways, not fewer.

Cycling Weekly considers the recent British study that shows bicycling saves the country’s National Health Service the equivalent of nearly $100 million, aside from any other activities, arguing that everyone benefits when more people ride.

Ghost bikes are becoming a point of contention between bicyclists and the city government of Melbourne, Australia, which says they don’t come under the city’s “plaques and memorials” policy.

Competitive Cycling

Italian cyclist Debora Silvestri is still hospitalized on breathing support after suffering multiple crack ribs going over the guard rail in a high speed mass crash in the women’s Milan-San Remo.

Former Olympic and world time trial champ Grace Brown says she’s glad she got out of the sport alive, arguing that UCI’s “extreme” focus on safety regulations hasn’t kept the peloton from getting more dangerous, as the high speed women’s Milan-Sanremo crash demonstrated.

If you needed any more proof that all-everything champ Tadej Pogačar is riding at the next level these days, he won Milan-San Remo with a mad descent on a cracked frame with a rubbing disc brake, following a bad crash earlier in the race.

Road.cc considers whether modern road bikes are really that much faster, more aero and comfortable compared to bikes from the ’90s.

Finally…

Where would Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore mountain bike? That feeling when you scale a bridge with a bicycle on your back, then leave it flapping from the giant American flag at the top.

And why did the chicken use a pelican, puffin, toucan or tiger to cross the road — but not a pegasus, unless it was on a pony?

The chicken, that is.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: Adam Miller, bicycling, candidate debate, Housing Action Coalition, K Line, Karen Bass, Los Angeles, Los Angeles mayor's office, Nithya Raman, Rae Huang, Spencer Pratt, Streets For All

Demand a Traffic Violence State of Emergency in Los Angeles, and a Capital Infrastructure Plan for the City Charter

March 12, 2026 / bikinginla / One comment

Let’s depart with our usual format today, because there are a couple of urgent matters we need to attend to right now.

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

Pinky swear.

………

First off, I’ve signed onto a letter demanding that Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council declare a Traffic Violence State of Emergency, after the abject failure of Vision Zero in Los Angeles.

Now I’m asking you to sign on to that letter as well.

Below you’ll find the full text of that letter. If you support it, please click this link or scan the QR code in the graphic below to sign on, too.

Dear Mayor Bass and Honorable Members of the City Council:

The City of Los Angeles has not been taking traffic violence and the public health crisis that is, seriously. The facts speak for themselves:

In 2015, the city committed to Vision Zero – its plan to end traffic violence by 2025. In 2025, traffic fatalities were reported by LAPD to be 290, 56% higher than in 2015.

For the past three years there have been more traffic fatalities than homicides.

An audit directed by the Los Angeles City Council found that Vision Zero failed – and thousands of people died – because of a lack of political will and poor coordination between city departments.

Traffic violence is the leading cause of death for children ages 4-14 in LA County.

Between 31 January and 5 February 2026, there were two mass traffic fatality events, resulting in 5 people killed and 7 others seriously injured.

The City of Los Angeles was about to return 100 million dollars in road safety funding to the State of California because it didn’t have the manpower to use the money.

We, the undersigned, demand that the issue of traffic violence be treated with the urgency and importance that it deserves. We request that the City of Los Angeles formally declare a State of Emergency due to traffic violence, thus redirecting resources and prioritizing actions to address this city-wide problem. This includes but is not limited to:

Recommitting to Vision Zero in its entirety – all five pillars, not just one or two.

Take serious and meaningful actions to fully address the failures of Vision Zero found in the city’s own audit.

Properly staff the LADOT, RIGHT NOW, with the personnel needed to use the grants and funding it already has.

Immediately empower the community to make their own roads safer through a community-led traffic safety program.

Fast-track road safety programs and improvements that are already in the works.

Vision Zero cannot succeed if it is treated as a slogan rather than a mandate. Preventable deaths are not unfortunate accidents; they are the predictable outcome of design choices and policy decisions.

Our city’s leaders have the tools, data, and authority to act. Now we are asking them to decide that a commitment to protecting human life should not be negotiable.

Jonathan Hale, Founder
People’s Vision Zero

Damian Kevitt, Executive Director
Streets Are For Everyone

………

Second, Streets For All is asking for your help to support critical Los Angeles City Charter reforms at today’s meeting of the Charter Commission.

TODAY: TELL THE CHARTER COMMISSION TO PASS A CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN

This is it! Today the Charter Commission will be deciding whether to submit language for 1) a Capital Infrastructure Plan and 2) a Director of Public Works.

These reforms are absolutely critical. They will create transparency, accountability, and reform the City’s existing antiquated system for infrastructure delivery. This touches everything we care about, from crosswalks to trees to bike lanes to park space.

We are expecting significant push back defending the status quo. It is important that advocates make their voice heard.

EXAMPLE PUBLIC COMMENT LANGUAGE

3 WAYS YOU CAN HELP
Thursday, March 12, 4pm (AGENDA)

1) Show up in person and give public comment
City Hall, 200 Spring Street, Room 350, Board of Public Works Session Room

2) Call in and give public comment
Please call early, they are limiting public comment to 30 minutes only
Use this Zoom link, or call 1-669-254-5252 (Meeting ID: 161 156 7882)

3) Submit written Public comment via email
Add your name and zip code to the bottom, feel free to customize the suggested language.

EMAIL THE CHARTER COMMISSION

Want to learn more about the Charter Reform process? Read about our research and suggestions here: charter.streetsforall.org

We’ll be back to our regular programming tomorrow.

Category: General / Tags: Asphalt Executions, charter reform, Karen Bass, LA Charter Commission, Los Angeles City Council, SAFE, Streets Are For Everyone, Streets For All, traffic deaths, traffic violence, Traffic Violence State of Emergency

Bloodless account of CA Ebike Incentive killing, LA’s most dangerous intersections, and new CA bill redefines e-motos

February 24, 2026 / bikinginla / Comments Off

Evidently, CARB’s cold-blooded murder of the California Ebike Incentive Program was just one of those things.

At least, that’s the takeaway from a remarkably bloodless Los Angeles Times report that finally made its way into print over the weekend, a couple weeks after first appearing online.

Take this remarkably mild-mannered introduction to the story.

To offset the cost of the e-bikes, which can run in the thousands of dollars, the state launched a generous voucher program — one that heavily subsidized, and in some cases completely offset, the purchase price. Demand soared.

That’s when the problems began.

Vouchers were quickly snatched up. A website set up to manage applications crashed amid heavy demand.

Despite wide public interest, the program quietly and abruptly ended last year — a victim, in some ways, of its own success.

Now the state is pivoting, leaving cycling advocates disappointed and those who were able to snag e-bike vouchers counting their lucky stars.

No mention there, or anywhere else in the story, of the three years it took the California Air Resources Board to even issue the first voucher.

Let alone the alleged malfeasance by, and investigations into, San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, which was hired by CARB to manage the program. And failed miserably.

And then the whole damn thing collapsed, apparently because getting cleaner cars on the road mattered more than getting more cars off it.

The demand was apparent. Some cycling advocates say they were under the impression additional vouchers — that would have been funded by the subsequent $18 million in state funding — were on the horizon as soon as a new administrator of the program was secured.

But those dollars were instead diverted to CARB’s Clean Cars 4 All program, which helps lower-income Californians trade in their gas-fueled vehicles for new or used plug-in hybrid electric, zero-emission vehicles or motorcycles, she said.

“California is committed to supporting e-bikes as a clean mobility alternative to vehicles. But, ultimately, the state has a limited budget and many competing priorities,” CARB spokesperson Bradley Branan told The Times.

That’s it.

Apparently, they couldn’t find a single disgruntled applicant willing to go on the record with a single complain against how the program was (mis)managed.

And yes, that’s me over here waving my hand until it falls off.

The whole program was the very definition of a clusterfuck and a shitshow from beginning to end. Because calling it a complete and barely mitigated disaster is being far too kind.

Instead, the Times very belatedly and very politely suggests that it was just one of those unfortunate things.

You, just another California program gone bad. Nothing to see here.

And don’t pay attention to the man behind the curtain.

Meanwhile, California continues to fall behind the ebike voucher race, as Tampa, Florida is bringing back a program that would award 248 ebike vouchers through a lottery program, offering up to $3,000 for very low income recipients.

That compares very favorably to the zero vouchers for zero dollars offered by the City and/or County of Los Angeles.

And now, California, too.

Image of the murder weapon removed from the back of the California Ebike Incentive Program and California bicyclists by Annie Gavin from Pixabay.

………

Speaking of the LA Times, the paper ranked the city’s 14 worst intersections, based on LADOT traffic counts and LAPD collision data.

Even there, the language and tone are no bolder.

And once again, they couldn’t seem to find a single traffic safety advocate to talk to. Evidently, no one picked up the phones at Streets For All and Streets Are For Everyone.

Or maybe the Times just lost their numbers.

The best they could do was a traffic engineering expert from USC, who evidently doesn’t consider traffic speed or road design a contributing factor when it comes to collisions.

Consider these milquetoast stanzas.

Many of the worst intersection were designed to take a lot traffic. They’ve been optimized for car movement (so pedestrians, buses cyclists come second to moving cars). This is controversial because some feel the city needs to prioritize getting solo drivers out of cars and onto mass transit and other alternatives. But most of these intersections lack protected bike and bus lanes.

As frustrating as the waits at these intersections can be, Moore argues that the city has generally done a adequate job of moving so many cars and is skeptical much more can be done short the type of “congestion pricing” system being tried in New York and European cities.

While I’m all in favor of congestion pricing, I doubt there are many people who would give LA traffic even an “adequate” grade.

That said, here’s the list in all its glory.

Highland and Sunset
Sepulveda and Lincoln
MLK and Crenshaw
3rd and Alvarado
El Segundo and Hoover
Los Feliz and Griffith Park
Pacific Coast Highway and Sunset
Santa Monica and Highland
Fountain and Hyperion
Crenshaw and 9th
La Cienega and Centinela
Vermont and 28th
Wilshire and Sepulveda
Pacific Coast Highway and Channel/Chautauqua

Two of those are walking distance from my apartment. Which probably explains why I feel like my life is in danger every time I walk the dog.

And I’ve ridden, driven of bused through most of the rest, and can attest that they do, indeed, suck.

But I don’t think you can evaluate any intersection without considering the design of the roadways leading up to it, or the speed of the drivers approaching it.

This list should be a call to action to fix each of these. But if we only address the intersections themselves, we won’t solve the problems that put them on it.

Then again, I’m not traffic engineering expert.

So what do I know?

………

Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Calbike, Streets for All, Streets Are For Everyone, and People for Bikes have clearly heard the call, and are backing a new bill that would redefine some electric mopeds and e-motorbikes to clear up the current confusion and separate them from Class 1, 2 and 3 ebikes.

Unlike AB 1942, which would require licenses and registration for ebikes, SB 1167 would clarify what is actually an ebike, while renaming and regulating faster and higher-powered two-wheeled vehicles.

Like these, for instance.

The bill would require that an electric bicycle must have fully operational pedals and an electric motor capable of no more than 750 watts; anything else could not be legally called, marketed or sold as a bicycle or ebike.

What is currently termed a motorized bicycle would be redefined as a moped, with clearer definitions of vehicle design, power output, and a top speed of 30 mph on level ground.

The term motor-driven cycles would include electric motorcycles offering less than 3,750 watts and 5 brake horsepower.

Both categories would require that manufacturers and marketers clearly specify that they are not electric bicycles.

Dirt bikes and other electric motorbikes intended for off-highway use will be treated as off-highway motor vehicles and must display identification plates or devices, and be certified by an accredited independent lab.

And perhaps most importantly, it would not require licenses, registration or insurance for ped-assist ebikes — a requirement that would be the best way to kill the growth of ebikes, and limit their ability to replace motor vehicle use.

………

Hats off to our very own Marvin Braude Bike Trail, which leads USA Today’s list of the ten best waterfront bike paths in the US.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A driver in Redlands deliberately crashed his Tesla into a crowd of people standing outside a popular restaurant and bar at closing time, after getting into an “altercation” involving several people.

Four people were hospitalized with major injuries.

The driver then fled the scene, crashing into the curb as he made his escape. After which, someone in the crowd got their revenge by shooting up a couple of nearby businesses, neither of which probably had anything to do with it.

………

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

He gets it. A North Carolina letter writer patiently explains that bike riders already pay for the streets, and that anyone who wants to exclude bicycles from the state’s roadways because they don’t pay gas taxes might as well exclude EVs, too — then signs off that he’s “Not a cyclist or an EV owner.”

No one is happy in Manchester, England, where a key bike lane is being dug up for the third time in two years, leaving merchants, drivers and bike riders fuming.

………

Local

Los Angeles city leaders have apparently managed to get their collective heads out of their metaphorical asses long enough to request an extension on $100 million in funding from California Active Transportation Program, rather than give the money back to the state after concluding that city staff reductions meant they couldn’t meet the deadline to finish projects in Wilmington, Boyle Heights and Skid Row.

Streetsblog reports the LA City Council Transportation Committee will discus plans for automated speed camera enforcement at their 8:45 am meeting tomorrow.

Long Beach will hold a town hall tomorrow night to discuss plans for a revamp of the city’s 2nd Street Bridge, amid reports they’re backing off plans for the promised protected bike lanes, leaving bike riders with just a thin stripe of white paint to protect them from speeding drivers.

Sad news from South LA, where an LA driver continued the city’s longstanding tradition of killing innocent people without fear of retribution, after a 30-year old woman riding a mobility scooter was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

LA Bike Boy takes a carfree trip from Venice to the venerable Huntington Library in San Marino.

State

Sad news from Santa Maria, where a man in his 50s was found lying dead in the street next to his bicycle after a hit-and-run, at the same intersection where a pedestrian was killed in another hit-and-run just a day before. Which is exactly how you know an intersection is a deadly disaster.

National

WTF? The owner of a Boulder, Colorado bicycle and triathlon shop says his store was sold behind his back and without his consent, after a minority parter misrepresented himself as owner of the property and trademark, and sold it to Mike’s Bikes.

A Norman, Oklahoma man is planning to ride across the country to raise funds and awareness of multiple sclerosis, despite living with the disease for nearly two decades.

International

Banff, Alberta says it’s time to get all arty and funky with the city’s bike racks. Although the problem with artistic bike racks is that too many people don’t realize they are one.

Locals are enraged when an English bike path is closed for two years because someone living in van community did some unauthorized digging in an embankment next to the path.

A bakery manager in the UK got his stolen handmade bike back after posting the theft online, when a kindhearted stranger spotted the bike and bought it back for the equivalent of just 27 bucks.

When a British physician offered to give away her old tandem to anyone who wanted it, she didn’t expect to ship it off to a Kenyan paracycling group, who needed it for racing with the blind.

Heartbreaking story, as an Irish man tearfully recalls that his wife never rode a bike again after his eight-year old son was killed riding in front of her.

The 15-year old son of the chairman of Israel’s Ra’am political party suffered severe injuries, including a head injury, when he was struck by a driver while riding an ebike in Upper Galilee.

A San Francisco urbanist visits his husband’s family Taiwan, and wonders if the country’s “incredible network of protected bike paths” could be brought home to the Bay Area.

A travel website says Kyoto and Hokkaido, Japan have joined better known locations like Amsterdam, Tuscany and Mallorca, Spain as the world’s best bicycling destinations. But they bizarrely feel the need to illustrate it with an AI-generated photo of bicyclist riding in front of a spectacular mountain range and temples that don’t exist.

A New Zealand farming website profiles a Kiwi dairy farmer who somehow finds time to ride his bike while running a local gravel cycling group, despite milking 450 cows twice a day.

Competitive Cycling

Heartbreaking news from Rwanda, where a race vehicle veered into a crowd of spectators watching the Tour of Rwanda on Sunday, killing two people and injuring six others.

Trailblazing Nigerian cyclist Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye is calling it a career, just two years after she became the first cyclist to represent the country in the Olympics.

Ivanie Blondin, a gold medal winner for Canada in the women’s long track team pursuit speed skating, is one of us, with top-10 finishes in two North American crits last year.

South African Imtiyaaz “Sparkie” Schultz has made the difficult jump from Cape Town gang member to professional cyclist, after asking the local gang leader for permission to walk away from gang life so he could wash enough cars to buy a racing bicycle.

Former WorldTour cyclist and current Costa Rican national cycling team head coach Andrey Amador was hospitalized in “delicate condition” after he lost control and crashed his bike while riding with the national team.

Finally…

The internet has ruled — tell another bike rider his taillight is too bright, and yes, you are the a-hole. Science says the best way to get faster on a bike is to do your training rides in hot tub.

And LADOT says they didn’t mean “If you see something, say something” applies to people pooping on buses, too.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, Calbike, California Air Resources Board, California Ebike Incentive Program, CARB, dangerous intersections, e-motorbikes, ebikes, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, ped-assist ebikes, Pedal Ahead, People for Bikes, SB 1167, Streets Are For Everyone, Streets For All

Unity Rides roll out this weekend; San Diego fights for density LA just fights; and NC pot calls bike kettle “elitist”

January 30, 2026 / bikinginla / 2 comments

Pink Bike reports that over 100 Unity Rides are planned to honor Alex Pretti, the 37-year old Minneapolis-based mountain biker who was shot and killed by ICE agents last Saturday.

And those are only the ones that have been listed on the website of the Angry Catfish Bicycle Shop, which organized the Minneapolis ride, and inspired similar rides across the US, as well as Canada, Germany, Austria, Finland and Australia.

There are undoubtedly countless others planned around the country, including at least three in Los Angeles.

Okay, make that five.

Here is a press release from Streets Are For Everyone and Domestique Cycling Club, providing details on DCC’s Saturday Unity Ride, which promises to be one of the largest in the LA area.

ALEX PRETTI UNITY RIDE IN SOLIDARITY
WITH MEMORIAL RIDES ACROSS THE US

LOS ANGELES, CA — Alex Pretti was a nurse and a cyclist who loved the outdoors. This Saturday, cyclists from across Los Angeles will join cyclists from across the U.S. and around the world for memorial rides honoring Alex Pretti, in unity with the Minnesota cycling community and in solidarity with @angrycatfish, the cafe and bike shop Alex frequented.

From @angrycatfish:

“Alex was one of us. He rode bikes, he believed in community, and he believed in justice. Whether you’re 5 or 80, you remember the first time you rode a bike—because bikes are magic, and joy itself is an act of resistance. Today, with tens of thousands of cyclists expected nationally, we are showing not just grief, but unity. We are stronger together.”

The Unity Rides are taking place simultaneously across time zones, with riders gathering and rolling together to demonstrate collective grief, unity, and resolve within the cycling community.

Domestique Cycling Club is organizing a slow 10-mile ride leaving from the parking lot of the Veterans Administration in collaboration with dozens of cycling clubs and advocacy groups across Southern California.

Additionally, several smaller rides are independently organized by local cycling groups and bike shops as part of a national and international effort led by community organizers.

A global map of participating rides is available at: https://bikepacking.com/news/alex-pretti-memorial-rides/

Ride details:

📅 Saturday, 1/31

🕚 11:00 AM — Meet

🕦 11:30 AM — Roll

📍 VA Med Center Parking Lot 6
304 Dowlen Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90025

Hundreds of cyclists are expected (between 150 and 500). This will be an easy, calm, no-drop ride focused on unity, respect, and showing up together as a cycling community.

OTHER LOS ANGELES–AREA RIDES

Friday

• Allez LA Bike Shop & CA Chicken, 7:30 AM — Boyle Heights

Saturday

• West LA Bicycle, 1:00 PM — Bike Path & Main Street

• Trash Panda Cycling, El Mariachi Plaza

Sunday

• Mom Ridaz BC, Downtown Los Angeles

To be honest, I don’t care what your politics are, or where you stand on immigration.

This is about the violation of the right to assemble, protest and report what’s happening guaranteed by the 1st Amendment, as well as Pretti’s right to legally bear arms, as guaranteed under the 2nd.

And the needless killing of our fellow Americans under the color of authority.

It’s your choice whether to turn out this weekend. But as the Angry Catfish bike shop put it,

We are many but we stand together as one. We’re stronger together, and they can’t take us all.

No, they can’t.

And even Surly is joining the fight.

Instagram post

………

Evidently, San Diego has the same fights over increased density that we do.

Except their city leaders are fighting for it, rather than opposing greater density in most of the city, like their neighbor to the north, while retaining single-family zoning and fighting SB 79, which overrides local zoning to allow dense, multi-family housing near major transit stops.

Lawrence Herzog, a writer and lecturer on urban studies and planning at San Diego State University makes the case for the mixed-use Midway Rising project, a medium density development that would replace the current sports arena and warehouses with housing and an entertainment district that opens onto the bay.

The project includes bike and walking paths connecting the various villages that make up the development, as well as connecting to a transit station less than a mile away.

The difference is that San Diego has been fighting a CEQA lawsuit filed by an anti-density group, which recently won its appeal over a failure to conduct an adequate environmental review of the height of some of the buildings.

Never mind that the city had placed the project before the voters, who narrowly approved it.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles continues to fight for an exemption to SB 79, despite a severe housing shortage in the city, affordable and otherwise, leaving us no choice but to increase density, despite what our city leaders seem to think.

Even though that increased density would effectively shrink the city, allowing it to become more walkable and bikeable, and reducing the need to drive everywhere.

And maybe even freeing up road space for better transit and safer bikeways.

Maybe someday our city leaders will stop kowtowing to residents desires to seal Los Angeles in amber and preserve it as it is today, and begin fighting for the healthy growth we so desperately need for the people who are already here. Let alone those who will inevitably come.

But clearly, today is not that day.

………

Meanwhile, San Diego’s 30th Street protected bike lane recorded a record 130,000 trips last year, with ridership rising every year since it opened four years ago.

And tres shock!

It has not destroyed the local neighborhood and businesses, despite the protestations of opponents both before it opened, and after.

………

No bias here.

Santa Monica public radio station KCRW provides a profile of Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, as the group works to extend the Ballona Creek bike path.

It’s a good read, even as Schneider patiently explains that you really can ride a bike to LAX.

But what really stands out is this section —

Disrupting the existing automotive order can mean more traffic and less parking, of course. So Schneider has angered some people over the years.

In 2022, he was on a neighborhood council championing a proposal for a dedicated bus lane along La Brea Avenue. The proposal passed, but in the run up, he says, one guy got pretty mad about it: “He put up a mugshot of me along La Brea at different establishments saying, ‘This guy’s about to ruin your neighborhood,’” Schneider recalls. When his mother-in-law saw the flyers, she “thought her grandkids were in danger.”

Matthew Tallmer says he did post — though not create — those flyers. “Obviously, the businesses were very concerned that they were going to lose business because there’d be no parking,” says Tallmer, now a member of the Mid City West Neighborhood Council, though at the time he was just a guy going door-to-door opposing a bus lane.

Tallmer’s larger objection is that Schneider’s unique lifestyle just may not work for everybody: “The whole idea that people are going to bike all over the place is an elitist fantasy, to be honest.”

So someone who sits on the Mid City West Neighborhood Council posts wanted posters with a photo of Schneider’s face, for the crime of daring to contest the automotive hegemony on La Brea.

And yet he somehow calls Schneider elitist for riding a bicycle, and thinking other people might want to do that, too?

Um, sure.

And I thought the Mid City West NC was one of the good ones.

………

Local

A trial has begun in the lawsuit over the death of an LAPD training instructor who died following a catastrophic spinal injury during bicycle training exercise; the parents of 32-year old Houston Tipping allege he was intentionally killed after he began a sexual abuse investigation into another officer.

The Argonaut looks at the weekly Venice Electric Light Parade and founder Marcus Gladney, who leads bicycle riders on a musical tour of the city that draws participants from around the world — including the Australian group RÜFÜS DU SOL, who hosted the listening party their fourth album on the parade.

State

The National Law Review examines California’s new regulations regarding ebikes, including a ban on converting new ebikes to exceed legal limits, as well as the regulatory gaps in the law that should be corrected. Like defining an ebike as at least partially human powered, and anything that’s not as an electric motorbike.

San Bernardino Parks will officially open a new 3.8 mile section of the Santa Ana River trail on February 12th.

The Thousand Oaks Acorn looks at a recent bicycle rodeo in the city to teach kids how to ride safely.

Streetsblog San Francisco’s Roger Rudick called for the BART train system to fire a contractor who not only parked in a protected bike lane, but flipped him off when he asked the driver to move his van.

National

Newsweek examines why bicycling feels easier than walking and remains the world’s most energy‑efficient mode of human transport, more than five decades after Scientific American first reported it. Which is truly shocking. Not that bicycling is so efficient, but that Newsweek is still a thing.

Escape Collective says Trek is in deep doo doo as it marks its 50th anniversary, with layoffs, overstock, retail decline and debt making this its most challenging year yet. I bought my first adult bike from the company when they were just five years old. And I still have it, even if it’s not in rideable condition these days. Then again, neither am I.

If you’re one of the roughly 2,000 Americans using a BeePrincess adult bike helmet, the CPSC wants you to take it off and kill it before it kills you.

Google is bringing its Gemini AI navigation to walking and bicycle maps. You know, just in case you want to put your faith in AI not to guide you into a brick wall.

LA’s favorite ex-pro cyclist Phil Gaimon claims the KOM on Hawaii’s epic Mauna Kea, gaining more than 14,000 feet of elevation in just over four and a half hours.

A Denver website recommends visiting the Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Community of Durango, Colorado, calling the small cowboy town an important bicycling hub in the southwest corner of the state. So if I suddenly disappear one day, that’s probably where you’ll find me.

Megan forwards news that a Denver bicyclist has built a calendar of bike events in the Mile High City.

That’s more like it. A 22-year old Texas man faces up to 20 years behind bars after being convicted of manslaughter for killing a high school student as he rode his bike in a crosswalk; investigators said he never touched his brakes before slamming into the boy’s bike. Although in California, he would only face a maximum of six years for vehicular manslaughter.

A Florida House committee unanimously approved a provision to rein in ebikes in the state.

International

British bike advocates say it’s just common sense that the country’s transit police have reversed their policy of not investigating the theft of bicycles parked at train stations for more than two hours, arguing that it sent the wrong message about whose journeys really matter.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland was given the 1,000th refurbished bicycle to be upcycled by a bike nonprofit group. Okay, one of the Lord Mayor’s, since they have four.

Workers in Germany can deduct the full cost of leasing a bicycle or ebike from their taxes, with 2.1 million people taking advantage of the benefit — a full 2.5 percent of the country’s population.

Finally…

Now you, too, can have an airbag in your shorts. And why am I only now hearing of Bands on Bike Taxis Getting Beers?

I mean, seriously.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: Alex Pretti, bicycling, CEQA, density, Domestique Cycling Club, Lawrence Herzog, Los Angeles, Michael Schneider, San Diego, SB 79, Streets Are For Everyone, Streets For All, Unity Rides

Reporting on LA’s crumbling infrastructure, weaseling out of HLA, and comparing street users to bloody gang warfare

December 4, 2025 / bikinginla / Comments Off

Day 338 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.

………

It’s Day 7 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Bernard, Michael, another Michael, Catherine and Patrick for their generous support to help keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. Along with one donation specifically earmarked for corgi treats.

So what are you waiting for? It only takes a few moments to donate via PayPal, Zelle or Venmo.

Our Fund Drive spokesdog is standing by.

………

Don’t count on it.

My News LA reports the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a proposal requiring city departments to report back on what they need to fix the city’s crumbling infrastructure.

The measure gives the departments 60 days to return with a “comprehensive analysis of funding, staffing and resources needed to address deteriorating public infrastructure and bring the city up to industry standards,” including “repair, replacement, maintenance and timely inspection of bike lanes, curb cuts, sidewalks, street trees, storm drains and street lights.”

Like the street lights on my street, which were stripped by thieves for copper wire. And the city says they’ll get around to fixing in six months, at best.

You mean, like that.

But if past is prologue, that 60 day deadline will likely slip by weeks, if not months. If they actually respond at all.

Experience tells us that no one is likely hold them to that commitment. And whatever reports are returned are unlikely to move the needle much.

Because one thing Los Angeles does best is study problems. But never actually, you know, do anything about them.

………

Good on them.

Streets For All takes Mayor Bass, LADOT and the Board of Public Works to task for trying to weasel out of their obligations under Measure HLA, as we reported yesterday.

Let’s hope someone actually listens this time.

Twitter post

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Damien Newton has more on the city’s ongoing efforts to not comply with the simple requirements of the street safety measure passed overwhelmingly by Los Angeles voters.

Not that that seems to matter to city officials.

………

The police chief of Gulf Shores, Alabama says the simple competition between various groups for space on the streets is nothing but a “good old-fashioned turf war.”

Not having stuck his far enough into his mouth, he continued,

“Not your traditional turf war. We could call the e-bikers the Crips, the pedestrians the Bloods, the bicyclists the Gangster Disciples and the motorists Mammoth-13. Name your gang.”

First of all, there is no street gang called Mammoth-13. I can only guess he meant MS-13, short for Mara Salvatrucha. Which tells you how much experience he has with actual gangs.

And while there are inevitable conflicts between various street streets users, particularly in a small beach town with limited road space, I’m not aware of much intentional bloodshed on the roadways.

According to Wikipedia, an estimated 20,000 people have been killed in gang warfare between the Bloods and Crips since their founding in the 1970s, the overwhelming majority of those deaths purely intended.

And that’s just as of 2014.

I have no idea how many people have been killed in that supposed “gang warfare” between pedestrians, bicyclists, ebikers and drivers in Gulf Shores. But I suspect the number may be just a tad lower.

Which is not to minimize the dangers of traffic violence, let alone the incidents of violent road rage.

But comparing people competing for road space to actual gang warfare just doesn’t play in a city like Los Angeles, where far too young lives have been snuffed out over the past five decades just because someone was wearing the wrong colors, or crossed into the wrong neighborhood.

Never mind that the overwhelming majority of killing on our streets — and presumably, his — is done by just one of those so-called “gangs” he’s so worried about.

The one in cars.

And that’s the one gang he doesn’t suggest doing anything about. Unlike bikes, ebikes, scooters and pretty much any other kind of non-motor vehicle conveyance, including feet.

So maybe he needs to just deal with the situation by calling for more bike lanes and crosswalks, and leave metaphors to people who actually know what they’re talking about.

Which is a polite way of saying get your fucking head out of your ass already, chief.

………

You’d think all those drivers stuck in traffic would catch on after a while.

But nope.

Twitter post

………

UCLA’s bruins4bettertransit teams with LADOT to conduct their own race to determine whether bikes, buses or cars provide the fastest means to get from campus to the E Line station.

My money’s on the bike.

Even without the long-debated bike lanes that would make it even easier, and safer.

Instagram post

………

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

No bias here. A Silicon Valley news site reports that bicycle advocates in Sunnyvale scored a victory over disgruntled neighbors, after the city council voted to eliminate parking on one street to make room for buffered bike lanes, framing the issue as “us versus them,” rather than a matter of improving safety for everyone.

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

A Massachusetts woman suffered a shattered left ankle and torn right knee when she was thrown from her horse when a bike rider cut across her path and spooked the eight-year old horse, which then had to be put down.

………

Local

Caltrans is improving sidewalks and resurfacing a stretch of Alvarado Street in Echo Park, which already has shared bus/bike lanes, and building 1.7 miles of new bus/bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood.

Torched enjoys the recent Stranger Things Melrose CicLAvia, while pondering the upside down need for corporate sponsorships for all things LA, including open streets.

We’re not the only ones holding an end-of-the-year fundraiser. Streetsblog is holding a fund drive through the end of this month, so toss ’em a few extra bucks, too.

Volunteers from the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition delivered turkeys and other Thanksgiving fixin’s to the Friends in Deed nonprofit to feed people experiencing homelessness or vulnerability.

State

Irvine and Newport Beach joined the parade of Orange County cities cracking down on ebikes, following similar action in Stanton, Huntington Beach, Yorba Linda, Orange and Buena Park.

Carlsbad became the latest San Diego County beachfront city to crack down on ebikes, banning riders under 12, and asking the state to prohibit anyone under 16 from carrying passengers on the back. Although like the Orange County cities, they don’t seem to distinguish between ped-assist bikes and electric motorbikes and dirt bikes.

‘Tis the season. For the 22nd year, elementary school children in Victorville received new bicycles courtesy of a local nonprofit program.

This is who we share the road with. A heartless hit-and-run driver slammed into a group of families crossing a San Bernardino street, dragging a baby stroller down the block and severely injuring two little kids. Yes, a baby stroller.

National

Kindhearted Oregon cops dipped into their own pockets, combined with a steep discount from a local bike shop, to replace a bike for a middle school boy after his was stolen.

More proof bikes are good for business, as People For Bikes examines how the annual El Tour de Tucson boosts participation, community, and the local economy.

A Monroe, North Carolina car dealer is living on the roof of his business until he collects 1,017 bikes to donate to kids in need for Christmas; as of Wednesday evening, he had about 670 bikes to go.

No surprise that Florida ranks second, behind only South Carolina, for people searching online for legal help after a bicycling crash. The only real surprise is that California doesn’t even rank in the top ten — maybe because we know to call the BikinginLA sponsors over there on the right first.

International

How is bicycling better than any dating app? Let Momentum count the ways.

Strava data shows Colombia’s Alto de Patios climb on the outskirts of Bogotá is the world’s most popular bicycling road, followed by a riverside road in São Paulo, Brazil, and a bridge in southwestern London.

A 69-year old Canadian man raised $50,000 riding around the world for cancer research.

Tragic news from Wales, where a 37-year old French fashion designer was killed when she was run down from behind by a driver while on a bicycling vacation.

Cycling Weekly goes looking for the roads, people and culture that make France’s Britany region a “dream cycling destination.”

If you have an Agree C:62 road bike made by German bikemaker Cube in either of the last two years, you’re asked to stop riding it immediately due to a risk of the front fork delaminating and cracking.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling site offers their holiday gift guide for bicyclists — and for a change, they’re focused on “thoughtful picks” for women who ride bikes.

A South African woman says she feels energized after she was invited to represent women bike riders a breakfast meeting at Johannesburg business school, after taking up riding to cope with grief following the death of her mother.

Finally…

Cervelo, the choice fleeing felons everywhere. You may not be a deviate, but your bike still can be.

And your next recumbent could really fly.

No, literally.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, bike lanes, Board of Public Works, crappy metaphors, crumbling infrastructure, gang violence, Gulf Shores, Karen Bass, LADOT, Los Angles, Measure HLA, Streets For All

LA Board of Public Works rejects Linton’s HLA appeals, and Rad Power rejects CPSC’s not-so-rad ebike battery recall

November 26, 2025 / bikinginla / One comment

Day 330 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.

………

Just a quick note before we get started.

As usual, this will be our last regular post for the holiday week. I’ll be taking tomorrow and Friday off to spend with family, so we’ll see you back here bright and early on Monday.

Although if you’re not too busy hitting the Black Friday sales — or better yet, getting out on your bike and avoiding the hell out of the whole mess — come back Friday for the kick off of our 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.

I’ll do my best to put the fun back in fund drive, while simultaneously begging you to part with a small portion of your own hard-earned funds to help keep this whole thing going for another year.

Today’s photo depicts yours truly signing the original petition in support of Measure HLA, corgi in tow, with Streets For All founder Michael Schneider.

………

Okay, one more quick note.

Because I’m thankful this year for a lifetime on two wheels, which has led me to so many of my best experiences and memories.

And I’m even more thankful for you, and everyone else who reads this site. Because I couldn’t do what I do without you.

So in all sincerity and with deepest humility, thank you.

………

To the surprise of absolutely no one, LA’s Board of Public Works rejected the overwhelming majority of Measure HLA appeals heard on Monday.

According to LAist,

First round of appeals: The Board of Public Works partially sided with the appellant in one appeal and rejected the other six. Joe Linton, in his capacity as a resident and not as editor of Streetsblog L.A., filed all the appeals heard on Monday. “It’s the very first time, so we’re kind of throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks,” Linton told LAist. “Not a lot stuck.”

One appeal approved: Linton partially won his appeal claiming the city did not adequately install pedestrian improvements along a nearly half-mile portion of Hollywood Boulevard that it resurfaced last year. The city said it will publish an “appeals resolution plan” to fix sidewalks there within the next six months. “It was really obvious to me that the city’s justification … was not true, so I was glad that that was acknowledged,” Linton said.

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton explains further.

Per the text of the Measure HLA ballot measure, the city does not have to implement its mobility plan if the city is only completing “restriping without other improvements.” This exemption is listed alongside pothole repairs, utility cuts, and emergency repairs. In the six appeals that the board voted to reject, the city did not “restripe” the existing configuration, but installed new lane striping to change traffic patterns, added parking, bike lanes, turn lanes, etc.

The appeals argued that these changes go beyond “restriping without other improvements.”

The city disagrees.

The city’s position appears to be more or less along the lines of: if a street reconfiguration project included installed pretty much any kind of lane striping, then it’s exempt from HLA because it’s considered “restriping without other improvements.”

In other words, the city is basically daring Linton to sue them, after he already filed one lawsuit over Metro’s failure to include the required bike lanes in the redesign of the Vermont Ave corridor — again, in his own capacity, and not as a representative of Streetsblog.

Four more appeals filed by Linton will be heard by the commission on Monday.

………

Seattle ebike maker Rad Power Bikes says thanks, but no thanks, to the ebike battery recall ordered by the feds, arguing that such a massive recall would put them out of business.

Not that their prospects look too good right now, with or without it.

Meanwhile, a writer for a surf site puts tongue firmly in cheek to discuss the “grom immolation terror” brought on by the recall, while questioning why the Consumer Product Safety Commission is even still around following the Trump budget cuts. “Grom” being slang for a young or inexperienced surfer, and by extension, any inexperienced and/or overly enthusiastic teen — the opposite of what waits for me in the mirror every morning. And you’re welcome.

………

Thanks to the generosity of a fallen bicyclist’s family, all donations to Streets Are For Everyone will be matched dollar-for-dollar through the end of the year.

Instagram post

………

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

Cycling Weekly considers what it will take to turn down the hatred, opprobrium and vilification that bicyclists are subjected to on a near daily basis.

………

Local

Calbike examines how Metro’s Nina Kin, Tech Lead on LA Metro’s Digital Experience Team, is building more reliable data and trust for transit riders on bicycles, as Metro begins to recognize that transit and bikes are two “halves of the same promise.” And no, that’s not an exceptionally awkward and unwieldy job title at all.

Joe Linton, acting this time in his capacity as Streetsblog editor, offers an open thread and photos from Sunday’s Stranger Things 5 CicLAvia on Melrose Ave, where a good time was reportedly had by all, human and demogorgon alike.

Pasadena approved a contract of up to $4.8 million to move forward with a new design for the Pasadena Ave and St. John Ave Roadway Network Project, including a safer and more accessible bicycle and pedestrian network — without removing existing traffic lanes, of course.

Santa Monica announced plans for a Holiday Sweater Community Ride on Saturday, December 6th, offering guided bike tours of the Bergamot Area First/Last Mile Improvements, departing from the 17th Street/SMC Metro Station from 10 am to noon.

State

Evidently, those public radio budget cuts have hit hard, as San Diego public radio station KBPS is just now catching up with CARB’s heartless shiv through the heart of the California Ebike Incentive Program, while adding little or nothing to the story.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office urges parents to think twice before buying ebikes for their kids, warning that they can be held criminally liable for whatever mischief the little miscreants get up to with them. And once again, conflating electric dirt bikes and motorbikes with regular ped-assist ebikes, to the benefit of no one.

The Kern County coroner identified the victim killed by a driver while riding his bike last week as an 81-year old man, who deserved better. Then again, so does anyone else who’s still riding at that age.

Caltrans pushed bike lanes planned for a Tiburon street makeover back to 2029, after advocacy groups questioned limitations imposed by a school bus operator.

National

Vice examines hacks to safely store a bicycle in your apartment, and says ditch the backpack and try panniers, instead.

American voters approved nearly $2 billion in bicycling improvements sponsored by People For Bikes in the recent elections.

A pair of Congressional members introduced the bipartisan Bicycle Instruction, Knowledge, and Education (BIKE) Act, which would make bike safety education a standard part of youth learning nationwide.

A UK citizen married to a US resident was nabbed by immigration authorities while riding his bicycle in Montana, despite having a pending green card application.

International

A new study from the Journal of the Obesity Society suggests that evening is the best time for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity — like bicycling — to help improve and control your blood sugar. Note to Bicycling: If you intend to hide the story behind a paywall for subscribing members only, don’t leave a link to the story just above the blockage notice. And if the study is readily available, the story ain’t that exclusive.

The London Times examines how bicycles have changed lives for indigenous Colombian students and adults.

If you build it, they will come. Daily bicycling journeys in London are up 12.7 percent over last year, and 43 percent above pre-Covid levels.

A member of the British Parliament proposes legislation banning the annual World Naked Bike Ride, arguing that the country’s police can’t ignore “flashers on bikes.” Just wait until someone tells him about Lady Godiva.

A writer for Cycling Weekly imagines what the UK’s future could look like if the country could actually learn from the Netherlands. At this point, there just ain’t enough weed in the world to conjure up visions of an Amsterdam’ed Los Angeles.

The New York Times talks with Dutch-Canadian author and advocate Melissa Bruntlett, co-writer with her husband Chris of the recently published Women Changing Cities: Global Stories of Urban Transformation.

The New York Times also talks with French ultracyclist Sofiane Sehili, who spent 50 days in a Russian hoosegow after trying to cross the border despite Russian border guards refusal to acknowledge his previously approved visa, while attempting to set a new record for the fastest crossing of Eurasia.

Competitive Cycling

A sports website catches up with America’s other ex-Tour de France winner, turned whistleblower, turned weed entrepreneur, Floyd Landis.

Finally…

That feeling when you get busted for illegally modifying a DIY ped-assist ebike to do nearly 40 mph. Now you, too, can buy grandma her very own $40,000 one-off bespoke bike.

And your next indoor exercise bike could be a giant, horned, spinning marble disk.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, Board of Public Works, ebikes, Joe Linton, Los Angeles, Measure HLA, Michael Schneider, Rad Power Bikes, recalls, Streets Are For Everyone, Streets For All

16 years for killer Santa Ana DUI driver; Burbank approves $3.3 million Chandler Bikeway extension “with trepidation”

November 24, 2025 / bikinginla / Comments Off

Day 328 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.

………

It’s kind of a quiet news day, as the holiday week doldrums hit the bike world. Or at least the press that usually covers it. So let’s just dive right in, for those of us who are still around this week.

……..

That’s more like it.

A Santa Ana man was sentenced to 16 years and four months behind bars for killing a five-year old boy, and critically injuring his father and 6-year-old sister as they all rode their bikes in Garden Grove.

Thirty-year old Ceferino Ascencion Ramos was convicted of driving at nearly three times the legal alcohol limit when he ran down the entire family of five last summer.

According to KTLA-5,

The incident took place on Sunday, July 7, 2024, shortly after 7 p.m. Angel Ramirez and Angela Hernandez-Mejia were riding e-bikes with their three young children near Haster Street and Twintree Lane. Angela led with the couple’s 7-month-old daughter in a bike trailer, while Angel followed with a trailer carrying their 5-year-old son, Jacob, and 6-year-old daughter.

A witness told police that the family was riding on the right side of the road when Ramos struck all five members and drove away. The witness followed Ramos until authorities could stop him. His blood alcohol level was later measured at .22, nearly three times the legal limit of .08.

Jacob died at the scene.

The family’s bones and abrasions may have healed by now.

But the family itself never will.

………

Burbank officials approved a $3.3 million plan to extend the popular Chandler Bikeway “with some trepidation,” despite a near total lack of public opposition.

And even though it’s only been in the works for a mere 20 years.

After all, what’s the safety, convenience — and yes, enjoyment — of thousands of bike-riding families when there’s a whole 53 parking spaces at risk?

………

Streets For All is hosting their Holiday Bash and Mobility Champion Awards on the 13th of next month.

Meanwhile, Streets Are For Everyone is looking for people to help clean up the Reseda, Blvd bike lanes the same day.

………

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

Chicago ripped out part of an already installed protected bike lane because the local alderwoman didn’t like it. Proof that there are, in fact, other cities with leadership as crappy as ours. Or maybe even worse, if that’s possible.

Police in Cambridge, Massachusetts continued their search for the thumbtack-wielding anti-bike terrorist who tossed the tiny tacks across a bike lane, resulting in flat tires for several riders. While it may sound like a relatively petty form of protest, it can be expensive and inconvenient to replace a tire, and potentially dangerous — or worse — if a tire pops at speed.

………

Local

LA-based professional mountain bikers Eliot Jackson and Katie Holden are on a mission to grow bicycling by tearing “down the barriers to entry in cycling for marginalized communities.”

State

A San Francisco med student makes the case for AB 981, which would create a test program requiring Intelligent Speed Assist systems for serious or repeat speed violators — in other words, using software to cap speeds for drivers who can’t keep their damn foot off the gas; the bill was left hanging in the Appropriations Committee when the last legislative session ended, and will need public support to move forward.

Sad news from Petaluma, where a hit-and-run driver left a man to die alone in the street, after his body was found hours after he was struck while riding his bike. Cases like this should be investigated as second-degree murder, because the driver made a conscious decision to drive off and let the victim die, rather than calling for help.

National

A writer for a military website says yes, it’s okay if you replace running with bicycling for fitness training sometimes. Or maybe all the time.

It seems like formerly American-based Felt has changed hands more than a Las Vegas card table, now on its fourth owner in less than ten years.

An 18-year old Texas man faces a felony hit-and-run charge for killing a 77-year man riding a bicycle in Galveston, after turning himself in five days later. Which gave him plenty of time to get whatever he might have been on at the time of the crash out of his system.

An off-duty Texas cop was struck by a driver while riding a bicycle on Sunday. And yes, the driver stuck around.

Newton, Massachusetts spent half a million bucks building a new elevated bike lane, then ripped part of it out after residents who initially supported it complained it was poorly executed, with one calling it a “clusterfuck.”

An Atlanta driver was allegedly doing 91 mph in a 35 mph zone when he hit and killed a 61-year old man riding a bicycle.

International

Cycling Weekly examines when and why bicycling suddenly became part of the mental health conversation, and vice versa, beyond just making us happy. I’ve long talked about how biking has gotten me through the toughest and darkest times of my life. The experts are just catching on now.

Meanwhile, Cycling Weekly readers take the seemingly wacky stance that it’s possible to just enjoy riding your bike, without the slavish focus on heart rate, cadence, et al.

Life is cheap in Hamilton, Ontario, where a bicyclist says “the laws are not there to protect you,” after prosecutors allow the driver who fractured his hip off on a lessor charge; the bike rider complained he was struck during an aggressive pass, while the driver insists he never actually made contact with the victim. Which shouldn’t matter, since a close pass can do as much damage as an actual collision.

Life is even cheaper in the UK, where the mayor of an English town walked with a fine of 3,000 pounds — the equivalent of $3,900 — for the drunken hit-and-run that knocked a man off his bike; the mayor denied hitting the victim until police found the passenger mirror from his car at the scene of the crash.

Britain’s iconic Brompton foldie is now officially middle-aged, just like the Hollywood stars and “condescending hipsters” who love them.

While Los Angeles continues to dither on installing speed cams, Jersey unveiled the British self-governing island’s first mobile speed cam. Funny how an island famous for cows is moving forward faster than a city known for its deadly drivers.

A travel writer insists that touring the tiny islands off the coast of Ireland by bicycle makes no sense at all, yet it’s utterly tranquil and addictive.

A Milan bike lane represents the dividing line in Italy’s politics, with the right promising to rip it out, and the city’s center-left mayor calling the conservative head of the country’s senate a NIMBY. In other words, kind of like the left-right divide in much of the world, and especially right here in the good ol’ USA.

A 26-year old driver in Cyprus faces charges for killing a 20-year old Syrian immigrant riding a bicycle, while allegedly speeding and both drunk and stoned.

Tragic news from Malaysia, where a driver managed to kill not one, but two young boys sharing a bicycle.

Competitive Cycling

Once again, a pro cyclist has been struck by a driver, as 28-year old Frenchman Thibault Guernalec suffered multiple fractures, as well as a concussion, when he was run down while on a training ride this this week, only days after Dutch cyclist Lorena Wiebes was also struck by a hit-and-run driver.

Twenty-nine-year old Danish pro Jonas Gregaard joins the ranks of relatively young cyclists who have recently walked away from the sport, contending the risks and toll it takes just isn’t worth it.

Life is cheap in Colorado, where fallen cyclist Magnus White could see less than half-justice, after corrections officials moved the killer of the 17-year old USA Cycling Team member to a halfway house, just six months into her four-year sentence.

Cycling Weekly explains why Africa’s Gravel Burn is the world’s toughest offroad stage race, and talks to the people behind ultra-endurance cycling dot-watching.

Finally…

Your next bike computer could light the road and pump your tires. That feeling when your spouse harbors newfound midlife dreams of BMX glory.

And that feeling when a pro motorcyclist has his $23,000 bike stolen, and it’s not even the one with a motor.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, Burbank, Ceferino Ramos, Chandler bike path, Jacob Ramirez, Los Angeles, Streets Are For Everyone, Streets For All

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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.

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More than 130 Cyclists Roll through Orange for OCTA Bike Rally

Local Businesses and Organizations Partner with Bike the Coast Ventura Ahead of Inaugural Event

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

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

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Dear Mayor Bass and Honorable Members of the City Council:

TODAY: TELL THE CHARTER COMMISSION TO PASS A CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN

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ALEX PRETTI UNITY RIDE IN SOLIDARITY WITH MEMORIAL RIDES ACROSS THE US

OTHER LOS ANGELES–AREA RIDES

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Day 338 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.

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

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Day 330 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.

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

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Day 328 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.

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

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More than 130 Cyclists Roll through Orange
for OCTA Bike Rally

ALEX PRETTI UNITY RIDE IN SOLIDARITY
WITH MEMORIAL RIDES ACROSS THE US