Tag Archive for Stupid Police Tricks

15 to life in HB DUI hit-and-run, MI cops accused of beating bike rider, and CA Sen. Portantino buzzed on bike by driver

Happy first day of Spring, even if it doesn’t look or feel like it here in Los Angeles today. 

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An Orange County man could spend the rest of his life behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run death of a man on a bicycle.

Twenty-nine-year old Garden Grove resident Victor Manuel Romero was sentenced to 15 years to life following his conviction for second-degree murder and hit-and-run causing permanent and serious injury in the death of 33-year old Raymond MacDonald in Huntington Beach four years ago this month.

The wreck that killed MacDonald, a homeless resident of Huntington Beach, was just the second of three crashes in an alcohol-soaked crime spree that night.

Romero started off with a bar fight outside a local nightclub, following by crashing into the bar owner’s Caddy on his way out of the parking lot. He then slammed into MacDonald, before crashing into a tree, all without stopping until the tree stopped him.

He still had a blood alcohol content of .18 — over two times the legal limit — when he was tested hours after the crash.

Romero was subject to the murder charge after signing a Watson advisement following a 2012 DUI conviction, and admitted to police that he remembered signing it when he was arrested after running off from the last crash — after trying to claim that he’d been carjacked.

Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels.

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Three Michigan state troopers are facing criminal charges for beating the crap out of a bike-riding man last August.

All three have been charged with misdemeanor assault and battery, while one of the officers also faces a felony count of misconduct in office for the incident that began with a simple traffic stop, for not having lights on the victim’s bike.

The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, attempted to flee by riding off on his bike on the sidewalk after officers approached him, likely because he allegedly had a small amount of suspected fentanyl and/or heroin on him.

According to UpNorthLive,

A traffic stop was then conducted and the bicyclist was placed in to custody after “several physical strikes, taser deployment and OC spray deployment,” according to the report…

As the head of the state police said, excessive force against anyone by a police officer is “unacceptable and inexcusable.”

Especially for not having lights on a damn bicycle.

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Clearly, state senators — and Congressional candidates — aren’t any safer out there than the rest of us.

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Streets For All produced their own PSA.

Which in this case, stands for Public Safety Ad.

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After years of talk and wishes, extending the Ballona Creek bike path eastward from the current terminus at Syd Kronenthal Park could be on verge of becoming a reality.

Or at least, a study to determine the feasibility of extending it could be.

Trying to extend it westward from its current terminus near the Pacific would just mean a lot of soggy bike riders.

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In just nine seconds, this clip perfectly captures the problem with riding on the sidewalk, particularly against traffic.

Because drivers entering from side streets and driveways tend to look towards oncoming traffic, and may not see someone coming from their right.

Let alone note someone traveling at greater than walking speed.

https://twitter.com/Bicicleto_ZGZ/status/1637143240523632642

Which is not to say they shouldn’t. But I prefer not to trust my safety to some motorist not having his or her head up their ass.

Then again, they should also stop after crashing into someone, unlike the jerk in the video.

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Celebrating 120 years of great bike art.

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The war on cares may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.

No bias here. A Menlo Park columnist says bike-riding councilmembers display their own bias through an unwillingness to preserve parking in a bike lane project intended to improve safety for school kids, arguing that there’s very little risk of a kid getting doored or hit by a driver backing out of a parking space.

Police in Denver are looking for the road-raging occupants of a stolen car who shot and wounded a man riding a bicycle, after a confrontation that began when they nearly crashed into him.

No bias here, either. A Florida columnist and retired paramedic says no kid needs a $2,000 ebike, because he once saw a kid riding one roll through a stop sign while looking at his cellphone. And somehow uses the tragic 40-year old case of boy who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt to illustrate the dangers of ebikes.

A bike rider on the Isle of Man was stopped by police three times and ordered to put his bike in their van after drivers complained about being unable to see him in foggy conditions. Which means they should slow down and drive more carefully due to the conditions — not have someone on a bike kicked off the road.

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Local 

A suspect could face charges for shooting a man who was riding his bicycle on the Expo Line bike path near the Sepulveda E Line Metro station, nee Expo Line. Police detained the bike-riding suspect after he was spotted by fire fighters responding to the scene; no word on what may have led up to the incident.

 

State

Calbike calls for passing AB 825 in the state legislature, which would legalize sidewalk riding anywhere in the state on streets and highways that don’t include a Class I, Class II, or Class IV bikeway.

The San Diego Union-Tribune looks back on the city’s first mass bike ride in 1921.

After the front wheel of a Palm Springs man’s bike was stolen — not his whole bike, despite what the headline says — he sees the futility of getting it back as a sign of the breakdown in the fabric of society.

A Palm Spring organization installed a ghost bike for fallen bicyclist Nelson Esteban, who was killed in an early morning collision last week. Although it will only stay up for 30 days, and no other form of memorials will be allowed.

Heartbreaking news from Bakersfield, where a 16-year old girl riding a bicycle suffered life threatening injuries when she was struck by a motorist. Which is a hell of a lot better way to say it than their headline, which managed to remove the humanity from both parties. 

Tragic news from Sacramento, where a man riding a bicycle was killed by a hit-and-run driver Saturday night.

San Francisco’s Financial District now has its first protected bike lane; meanwhile advocates push back against a proposed center-running bike lane on Valencia, calling it worse than nothing.

 

National

Portland bike riders mark the last day of winter with the annual Worst Day of the Year Ride.

Life is cheap in Sitka, Alaska, where a 21-year old woman got just four years for the hit-and-run death of a 20-year old man on a bike, after drifting onto the wrong side of the road while coming off a meth-high from the night before; she then drove to her father’s house and attempted to conceal evidence of the crime.

Oregon’s ebike rebate bill received an extreme makeover in the state legislature, making the rebate program an extension of Oregon’s existing Clean Vehicle Rebate Program while modeling it after Denver’s highly successful program; general residents will now receive just a $400 rebate, while low-income residents will be eligible for up to $1,200 on the purchase of a new ebike.

Dartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens is one of us, as the “avid cyclist” was hospitalized after being injured in a collision while riding his bike; no word on the condition of the five-time Ivy League champ.

Nearly 1,000 people turned out for an annual 51-mile Selma to Montgomery, Alabama bike ride, beginning at the famed Edmund Pettus Bridge and ending at the State Capitol.

 

International

Road.cc looks back fondly on the Diamondback Andean, which they call the craziest bike of the last decade.

British Columbia’s Stolen Bicycle Avengers use Facebook to reunited purloined  bikes with their owners.

A writer for The Guardian credits the Dutch city of Groningen, where two-thirds of all trips are made by bike, with building the template cities all over the world are using to increase bicycling and reclaim streets from cars.

Josh Reid, son of British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid, relates his flight-free journey by train and ferry to Africa to take part in an 830-mile unsupported race skirting the Sahara Desert.

The 58th Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye, the country formerly known as Turkey, has been postponed until October due to the recent deadly earthquakes.

Half of Pakistanis admit they don’t know how to ride a bike.

An Aussie Lamborghini driver faces charges for running down a man riding a bicycle in a Melbourne nightclub district, which was voted the city’s scariest area for bicyclists a few years ago.

An Australian man was the latest to learn the dangers of overheated ebike batteries, after he was forced to jump from a second-floor balcony to escape flames; another man’s ebike battery exploded while he was riding it, setting off a small grass fire. .

Continuing Down Under, a new $6 million project by the Australian government and bike safety nonprofit Amy Gillett Foundation aims to educate “governments and engineers about best-practice road building for safe cycling,” as well as testing new methods of documenting how safe streets currently are.

Still more from Australia, where a 24-year old man faces life behind bars for killing a bike-riding 84-year old man while illegally riding his dirt bike up 55 mph while popping wheelies on a bike trail.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch pro Mathieu van der Poel dropped the entire peloton in a solo breakaway win at Milan-San Remo, the year’s first Monument and the third Monument win of his career.

Two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar said he had no regrets after falling just shot of the Milan-San Remo podium in fourth place.

Indian paracyclists competed with general category bicyclists in a race across the country, with the top paracyclist finishing in third place in just nine days; the top women’s paracyclist — and only woman in the race — finished in 16 days, despite riding with just one leg.

Cycling Tips offers photos from a rainy, foggy and muddy LA Tourist Race, featuring 50-miles on dirt trails through the mountains above Los Angeles, while packing 7,500 feet of elevation into 21 mile segments.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to bash another man over the head with a baton in a dispute over an allegedly stolen BMX, after police refuse to intervene. Nothing like sightings of a bike-riding ghost regularly plunging to his death by riding off a quarry cliff.

And no, you can’t ride your bike on Formula 1 courses before zipping around at 200 mph anymore.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Update: Man riding bicycle killed by motorcyclist fleeing police near Carlsbad State Beach; 4th San Diego County death in 10 days

What the hell is going on in San Diego County?

For the first seven months of this year, it was one of the safest places to ride a bicycle in Southern California, with just four deaths.

Even though just one is one too many.

Yet the county has doubled that total in just the last ten days, with the latest death coming yesterday in Carlsbad, where the victim was collateral damage in a police chase.

According to multiple sources, the victim was killed when he was struck by a motorcyclist who was being chased by a state parks officer for speeding and reckless riding.

The crash occurred around 1 pm at Carlsbad Boulevard near Palomar Airport Road, either in or near Carlsbad State Beach.

The San Diego Union-Tribune places the crash near North Ponto Beach.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, died at the scene, while both the 28-year old motorcyclist and his passenger, a 22-year old woman, were hospitalized with serious injuries.

There’s no word on when or where the pursuit started, or how fast the motorcyclist was going at the time of the crash.

However, it raises inevitable questions about the wisdom of police chases that place innocent people at risk, and whether a parks cop was properly trained in how to conduct a chase.

Anyone with information is urged to call Carlsbad Police Investigator Adam Bentley at 442/339-5559.

This is at least the 58th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in San Diego County.

It’s also the 4th bicycling death in the county in the last ten days, and the second in Carlsbad.

Update: According to the Union-Tribune, the victim has been identified as 68-year old Solano Beach resident Brad Allen Catcott

Catcott was reportedly moving from the bike lane to a turn lane when he was run down by the fleeing motorcyclist, and succumbed to blunt force trauma. 

The paper reports Carlsbad Police referred questions to State Parks officials, who said there “is no new information to share with the public” ten days after the crash. 

Not that they’re trying to cover their collective ass or anything. 

My deepest prayers and sympathy for the Brad Allen Catcott and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up. 

LA Times says prioritize people not cars, hit-and-run cop hits bike-riding teen, and racial profiling getting worse in traffic stops

They get it.

The Los Angeles Times says it’s time for California to prioritize people, not cars, by eliminating parking requirements in new developments near transit.

Or maybe they could just eliminate parking requirements, period.

Most cities require new residential and commercial developments to be built with lots of on-site parking, no matter if the spots are needed or desired. Typically, cities mandate one to two parking spaces per unit in a residential development. It can cost $55,000 per parking spot in a midsize apartment project in Los Angeles, according to one analysis. That drives up the cost of construction and makes it difficult for smaller or less pricey projects to pencil out. The expense of building parking is passed along to tenants and buyers, whether they want the spots or not…

Is all that parking really necessary? Oftentimes, no. A 2019 review of parking requirements examined 10 developments in Southern California built with just the minimum number of spots required by local laws and found that peak parking utilization was 56% to 72% at each development. Localities were demanding more parking than needed.

A pair of bills in the state legislature, AB 2097 and SB 1067 take different approaches to problem, one significantly stronger than the other.

But either one could provide a necessary first step in decoupling parking from housing, and reducing the stranglehold cars have on our streets.

And our wallets.

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It’s hard enough to get the cops to take hit-and-run seriously.

But what do you do when the driver is a cop?

Police use car to knock over a teenage bicyclist in Chicago from chibike

These three Chicago kids might have an attitude when it comes to cops, not unlike a lot kids these days.

But in this case, it seems to be well deserved.

The incident starts with a police SUV following three teens as they ride their bikes, before pulling up next to them to challenge one of the boys for using his phone while he rides.

They then hit one of the boys with their police cruiser before backing off, and fleeing the scene without stopping.

There’s little argument that the officers screwed up, and should have stopped their vehicle and called in a supervisor.

But they didn’t.

Which makes them no better than any other hit-and-run driver.

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Naturally, the Chronicle hides the story behind their draconian paywall, which blocks even casual readers.

But the problem of biased police stops appears to just be getting worse. And recent history tells us it’s just as bad, if not worse, for people on bikes.

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San Diego had an impressive turnout for this year’s Pride Ride.

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It looks like Premier League soccer team Newcastle United is one of us.

Okay, maybe just three of them.

https://twitter.com/NUFC/status/1547561139604598790

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

No bias here. A writer for the Robb Report says keep your Lycra bikewear on the bike, and out of cafes and the office.

A Michigan driver got out of his pickup and pushed a woman into traffic, apparently for the crime of accidentally hitting his truck bed with her handlebar after he blocked the crosswalk and forced her to go around him.

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

An 82-year old San Diego pedestrian and an ebike rider in his 50s both suffered serous brain injuries when the lightless bicyclist slammed into the older man at a high rate of speed; fortunately, neither injury was considered life-threatening.

A Houston man was arrested by sheriff’s deputies after shooting another man multiple times following an argument at a gas station, despite trying to make his getaway on a bicycle.

New York police are looking for an ebike-riding man who sexually assaulted two women about an hour apart, threatening both with a knife.

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Local

The daughter of actress Gabrielle Union and former NBA star Dwayne Wade is one of us, as Union teaches the three-year old how to ride a bike with training wheels.

Kylie Jenner showed off her new $24,000 Louis Vuitton bicycle. The perfect bike for anyone with too many dollars and not enough sense.

 

State 

San Diego continues to pay for broken sidewalks and dilapidated bike lanes, forking out a total of over $333,000 in legal settlements in just 30 days.

Fresno police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who left a bike-riding man bleeding in the street; the victim was hospitalized in stable condition.

Two hundred volunteers turned out to help build bicycles with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, with a goal of giving away 500 bikes to kids in the community (scroll down, if you can get past the paywall). Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.

One more example of officials keeping dangerous drivers on the road until it’s too late, as a 78-year old Berkeley driver crashed into a couple in their 70s walking in a crosswalk — just four days after he crashed his car into an 83-year-old woman in another crosswalk; one of his victims remains in the ICU.

Contra Costa County’s Mount Diablo State Park will have 30 bike turnouts installed today to allow drivers to safely pass bicyclists, who make up 60% of all vehicular traffic on the roadway.

 

National

Newsweek considers the best ebikes to buy and ride this year, ranging from a $899 SWFT commuter to a $3,100 Cannondale.

She gets it. An op-ed from a Honolulu writer says Hawaii has a flat tire when it comes to bikeways, making little progress since the 1980s; this comes after several students filed suit against the state for operating a transportation system that harms the climate, prioritizing highways over more environmentally friendly modes of transportation.

Speaking of Hawaii, the island state is now offering rebates up to $500 on the purchase of an ebike; however, the program is limited to students, non-car owners and low-income buyers.

A Japanese man who recently moved to California with his family writes about the racist assault where a Portland man attacked him and his daughter while yelling anti-Japanese slurs; his five-year old daughter now wants to leave the US.

Around 5,500 people completed a 206-mile ride from Seattle to Portland, with roughly 1,000 finishing the ride in a single day, and the rest riding in the next day.

A Phoenix man is recovering in the hospital after he was shot by a gunman who stole his bike; no word on whether he was riding it at the time.

Missouri residents are honoring the 125th anniversary of the famed Buffalo Soldiers 1897 bike ride covering 1,900 miles from Missoula, Montana to St. Louis.

A Chicago columnist says he didn’t take wearing a bike helmet seriously, until he was hit by a 70-something, possibly distracted, driver who said she just didn’t see him.

A Louisville KY TV station asks if things are getting worse for pedestrians and bike riders on the city’s streets. You can probably guess the answer without ever riding there.

Pittsburgh Magazine credits local advocacy group BikePGH with a successful 20-year battle to make the city more bike friendly.

Yes, please. New York will now require new drivers to take a bike and pedestrian safety course before getting a license. Thanks to Victor Bale for the link.

Hundreds of Atlanta bike riders turned out to honor Congressman and civil right icon John Lewis, on the two-year anniversary of his death.

A Florida lawyer won an $8.2 million settlement over the death of a 79-year old woman who fell off a drawbridge when the operator opened it as she was walking her bike across.

 

International

Big news in the race for mayor of Toronto, as famed international urbanist Gil Penalosa tossed his chapeau into the ring.

A Toronto writer explores the proper way to make a left turn on your bike. Actually, the best way to make a left is whatever you feel comfortable with that won’t get you killed.

Devon, England’s 18-year old Piano Bike Girl has become one of the most recognizable buskers in the coastal city, performing on a piano mounted on a three-wheeled bike.

Good news for Welsh bicyclists. The country’s new 20 mph speed applies to cars but not bicycles. So feel free to blithely ride past puttering drivers, nose-thumbing optional.

An ebike conversion kit from the UK’s Swytch now comes with a battery that can fit in a large pocket.

British bikewear maker Fat Lad at the Back unveils an attention getting outdoor ad campaign reading Fat C*n’t, and continuing on the next line, Actually Fat Can, suggesting it’s actually an “a” that’s missing.

Pink Bike looks at the most exciting new products from this year’s Eurobike trade show in Frankfurt, Germany, while Cyclist shares five weird and wonderful things for the show. I could totally rock that mirrored disco ball bike helmet, myself.

More proof of the everyday utility of bicycles, as Ukrainian refugees flee to the southern village of Zelenodolsk, most arriving by bikes or wheelchairs.

PETA, aka People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, hired bike riders to tow anti-wool billboards in front of an Aussie wool and sheep trade show.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australia’s Michael Matthews soloed to victory in Saturday’s 14th stage of the Tour de France, as Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar continued their battle for the yellow jersey.

Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen won the sprint for Sunday’s stage 15, while Vingegaard held onto the lead by a 2 minute 22 second margin, despite crashing 36 miles from the finish, in 100° temperatures.

L39ion of Los Angeles founder Justin Williams was DQ’d, along with Best Buddies’ Michael Hernandez, following a dust-up on the final lap of the Salt Lake Criterium; L39ion swept the podium in both the men’s and women’s races.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to try to sell a bike back to the person you stole it from. Now you, too, can own your very own wooden bicycle for the low, low price of just — wait for it — nearly 24 grand.

And how else would you transport a tree?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Road-raging deputy brake checks group ride, LA Times calls for Griffith Park car bans, and advocates pan bridge bike lanes

A road-raging Houston deputy constable thought people in a group ride were riding dangerously.

So he apparently decided to make it exponentially less safe.

Makes sense.

The bike riders are now calling for the deputy to be fired for actions that included repeatedly brake-checking the group, which caused at least one rider to crash into his car.

According to Houston’s KHOU-11,

“You see him brake-check people,” one cyclist said. “You see him get out, taunt, intimidate people. You see him drive in oncoming traffic in the oncoming direction. You see him go over across two or three lanes of traffic in the right lane where bikers, by transportation code, are legally supposed to be and legally allowed to be.”

Several angry cyclists then rode past the patrol car, yelling at the deputy and asking for his badge number.

Another cyclist who posted a different video told KHOU 11 he’s pro-law enforcement but believes the deputy’s actions went too far.

“This deputy was definitely out of control,” that man said.

The bike riders say they never received a lawful command or the deputy’s identification, despite numerous requests for his badge number. And not surprising in the current environment, They’ve received a number of threats since posting the video online.

Meanwhile, the local constable — sort of like a sheriff, but with less authority and responsibility — took it upon himself to blame both sides.

Even though only one had threatened anyone’s safety.

Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said the internal affairs department is conducting an investigation, but he believes there’s fault on both sides.

“After viewing the deputy’s dashcam video, which is now under investigation, it appears both parties, the deputy and cyclists on scene, were not conducting themselves in a safe manner,” Rosen said in a statement. “The cyclists were dangerously impacting other citizens, riding into oncoming traffic lanes and were taking over an entire intersection interrupting traffic.”

Sure, let’s go with that.

Never mind that the deputy appears to have committed a number of possible felony violations, starting with that brake-check, which could and should be charged as assault with a deadly weapon.

But probably won’t be. Because, you know, Texas.

Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up. Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

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They get it.

The LA Times notes that Los Angeles is finally catching up to other major cities in closing some streets to cars — okay, one — while musing whether that marks the start of a road revolution.

LA’s paper of record also calls for closing more Griffith Park roadways to motor vehicles.

The park’s roads are currently designed for the movement of cars, not the safety and enjoyment of cyclists, walkers and equestrians. Drivers treat Griffith Park Drive and Crystal Springs Drive as shortcuts to avoid traffic on Interstate 5 and the 134 Freeway. The speed limit on park roads is 25 mph, but it’s routinely ignored by motorists. The routes aren’t safe for pedestrians or cyclists. Crosswalks and bike lane stripes are faded. Key roads are missing sidewalks for pedestrians and barriers separating cyclists from cars.

It’s no wonder Griffith Park mostly attracts only “strong and fearless” bicyclists, according to a consultant’s report. Councilmember Nithya Raman, who represents the area, said she wants the roads redesigned so families and kids feel comfortable riding their bikes in the park.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog offers a lengthy Twitter thread on how to make the park safer and more convenient for people on bicycles.

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Renderings of the Class IV protected bike lanes on the new $600 million 6th Street Viaduct, scheduled to open this weekend, haven’t exactly been winning rave reviews online.

Like this, for instance.

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LADOT announced a new bollard-protected bike lane on Grand Ave in South LA.

https://twitter.com/LADOTlivable/status/1544808420427063297

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Active SGV lists upcoming rides on San Gabriel Valley greenways, starting tomorrow with Glendora and San Dimas.

https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1545110738594775041

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Yes, recent bike convert and state Senator Anthony Portantino really is one of us now.

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

No bias here. Miami shop owners say new bike lanes that replaced curbside parking are killing their businesses, insisting their customers can’t afford to pay for parking. They don’t have money to park, yet somehow, still have money to spend at their stores. Sure, that makes sense.

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

Sadly, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and his cyclist brother Roberto never got to live out their dream of fielding a winning team at the Tour de France.

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Local

Los Angeles’ StreetsLA staff has completed the first inspection of pavement quality for the city’s entire 1,100-mile bike lane network. However, despite all the happy talk, there’s no mention that the inspection was inspired by the $6.5 million settlement for a bike rider injured by a Sherman Oaks pothole — vastly more than the $4 million the city spent fixing broken bike lane pavement last year.

Seriously? Ryan Seacrest’s radio co-host Sisanie questions whether you could manage to go carfree at Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia. Because walking or biking the short three-mile route is just so, so hard, evidently.

Streetsblog’s SGV Connect talks with Eastside Bike Club founder and Stan’s Bike Shop owner Carlos Morales, one of the nicest and most inspiring people you’ll ever meet; you can read a transcript here if you prefer that to listening.

The Malibu Times complains about Caltrans’ “chaotically staged” virtual meeting to present plans for bike lanes on the western section of PCH through the coastal city, while noting the lack of answers about the project.

 

State 

You can now buy California-based Aventon bikes at your local Best Buy.

A 25-year old Placer County man will spend the next 13 years behind bars for attacking and robbing a 69-year old man on a bicycle.

 

National

The Federal Highway Administration, aka FHWA, is proposing a new rule to measure and track transportation greenhouse gas emissions.

Wired says e-scooters aren’t as green as you think, either.

Several states are siphoning federal highway safety funds, despite the dramatic increase in traffic deaths; US regulations allow them the repurpose up to half the funding they receive.

Consumer Reports reviews the best bike locks, but won’t tell you without a subscription.

Salt Lake City is accused of violating its own Complete Streets requirement after rebuilding a street to the same incomplete format it was before.

A Joplin, Missouri bike rider was seriously injured when he or she was rear-ended by a sheriff’s deputy responding to a burglary call, who evidently somehow couldn’t see someone on a bicycle directly in front of the car. Yet they can’t even be bothered to recognize that the victim was a person, rather than a mere “subject.”

Proposed legislation in New York would require drunk drivers to pay child support for up to 18 years if they kill a custodial parent in a DUI crash.

A New York State mountain biker rides a 27-mile loop, hoping to find one the finest mountain-bike rides in the Adirondacks, but leaves complaining about poor maintenance and fallen trees.

This is why people keep dying on the streets. A pickup driver isn’t facing any charges for killing an 11-year old boy in the Hamptons, despite backing into the victim’s bike while leaving a worksite. Seriously, if you can’t see what’s behind you, don’t effing back up.

 

International

Cycling Weekly looks at ten standout handmade bikes from Enve Composites Bike Builder Round-Up, calling them rideable art.

An Irish man walked with a gentle caress on the wrist for the death of a 63-year old bike rider, after the man’s Yorkie escaped and ran out into the roadway; he was fined the equivalent of just $304 for letting the dog run loose, and a total of $329 for not licensing his three dogs. But not a dime for killing someone. Let’s at least hope the victim’s family has a damn good lawyer.

France is rolling out a new combination bike and pedestrian traffic signal for use when a bike lane runs next to a pedestrian path.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers his observations from a recent family vacation to Barcelona, calling it the “most walkable, most transit-oriented, and most bikeable place” he’s ever been. And yes, I’m only a lot jealous.

 

Competitive Cycling

Rouleur looks forward to today’s stage of the Tour de France, the year’s first mountain finish. On gravel, no less.

Slovenian Tadej Pogačar won Thursday’s sixth stage to become the third yellow jersey holder at this year’s Tour; Bicycling asks the pertinent question of who the hell is the new Slovenian race leader. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you

American TdF rookie Quinn Simmons made a good impression on Thursday’s stage, following the wheels of Wout Van Aert and Jakob Fuglsang on a lengthy breakaway before getting reeled in by the peloton as Van Aert sped off.

Italy’s Alberto Bettiol apologized to teammates Neilson Powless and Magnus Cort, after an ill-advised attack on the cobbles during Wednesday’s fifth stage may have helped keep the American out of the yellow jersey, trailing then leader Tadej Pogačar by just 13 seconds.

Juliette Labous won Thursday’s stage of Italy’s Giro Donne, as Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten added to her overall lead. Meanwhile, Dutch great Marianne Vos is withdrawing from the Giro Donne after her second stage win on Wednesday to focus on “other team goals,” most likely the new Tour de France Femmes.

Damn good question. VeloNews examines the hypocrisy in cycling, questioning why some dopers are forgiven while others are shunned.

Comfy bikes and Tour de France teams aren’t concepts that usually go together.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you set a new record for the oldest person to cross the US by bike. Once again, if you’re riding your bike with meth stuffed in your sock, put a damn light on it. The bike, that is, not the sock.

And yes, the late, great James Caan was one of us.

At least on the silver screen.

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1545113994737979392

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

San Diego bike rider allegedly murdered by driver, violent/deadly dirty cop tricks, and razing the Wright Bros 1st bike shop

We’re off to a rip-roaring start to the 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

After just three days, donations are already running well above last year’s record-setting pace!

So let’s keep it up! Your contribution will help fund this site until our sponsors renew in the spring, and ensure SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy keeps coming your way every day.

Thanks to Janice H, Michael S, Robert K, Kim D, Daniel F, Arthur B, Mark J, Joseph B, Andrew G, Theodore F, Megan L, Steven S, Elizabeth T, Jonathan P, Douglas M, Amy S, and Jamie S for their generous donations.

And that’s in addition to Robert L, Eric L, David V, Mitchell G, and Olivia K, who donated even before the official start of the fund drive on Friday.

Give now via PayPal, or with Zelle to ted @ bikinginla.com.

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Police allege a San Diego man may have been murdered by a hit-and-run driver, after witnesses apparently told them the driver deliberately attacked him Thanksgiving morning.

Relatives of 40-year old San Diego father Octavio Mendoza called for additional witnesses to come forward in hopes of catching the driver.

Police are looking for a light-colored, older model Chevrolet Suburban or Tahoe; unfortunately, there’s no description of the driver.

Mendoza is at least the 17th person killed riding a bicycle in San Diego County already this year, perhaps three or four times more than in most years.

It’s also the second time in just two months someone in the city has been accused of intentionally murdering a bike rider with their car.

………

This is who we share the road with.

Sometimes, I don’t even know what to say. So we’ll let NBC News start things out.

A New Jersey police officer is accused of fatally striking a pedestrian, taking the man’s body home to discuss what to do, and then returning to the scene with the dead man in his back seat, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

They on on to explain the off-duty cop and his passenger fled the scene without bothering to aid the victim or call for help.

Then this.

They reportedly went back to the scene multiple times before they put Dymka into the Honda Accord. They then went to Santiago’s home, where he, Guzman and Santiago’s mother, Annette Santiago, discussed what to do, Stephens’ office said.

Louis Santiago eventually went back to the scene, and his father, who is a Newark police lieutenant, called 911, officials said.

New Jersey State Police arrived and found Dymka dead in the back seat, the prosecutor’s office said.

Did we mention that he’s a cop?

Yet apparently, despite his training, he still had no idea what to do after killing someone with his car.

At least this time, there should be consequences. The killer cop faces charges including reckless vehicular homicide, desecrating human remains, and official misconduct, along with a raft of other counts.

Meanwhile, his mom and passenger are both charged with conspiracy to desecrate human remains and hindering apprehension, among other varied and assorted crimes.

No word on whether the cop and his passenger were drunk or stoned. But you’d sure as hell hope no sober person would do that.

Let alone a cop.

………

This is who we share the road with, part two.

A Tucson woman face charges, apparently for allowing an angry driver to assault them.

And yes, he’s a cop, too.

Aloisi and her daughters were walking across the parking lot after brunch, they said, when a vehicle approached them fast before the driver abruptly stopped.

The driver, a man, waved his arms at them and appeared to be yelling, they said, though his windows were closed. The women waved their arms and yelled back at him. Aloisi has a leg problem that prevents her from walking fast after sitting for a length of time, she said…

“He zoomed into that back parking spot, jumped out of his car, threw his hands up in the air and screamed ‘Just f—ing walk’ at us,” Nicole Whitted said.

They tried explaining that their mother can’t walk fast, but the cop continued advancing towards them, before allegedly chest bumping one of the women and angrily taking her to the ground.

He then took the 62-year old mother to the ground as well, holding her down with an arm across her throat while pinning her daughter down with his knee, shades of Derek Chauvin.

Only the intervention of a bystander ended the ugly confrontation after their attacker identified himself, for the first time, as a cop.

Yet only the daughter he allegedly chest bumped was cited for misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Meanwhile, the alleged road raging attacker denied everything and placed all the blame on the three women, apparently getting off with a pat on the back.

And shamefully, did it all with his family waiting and watching in his car.

………

Some things are just wrong. And others are wrong as hell.

Zoning officials in Dayton, Ohio voted almost unanimously to allow the city to demolish the first bike shop operated by the Wright Brothers, overruling the city Landmark Commission, which voted to preserve the 129-year old building.

I mean, it’s not like those guys went on to do anything important or anything.

As justification, the city bizarrely cited the Florida condo collapse, somehow seriously equating the dangers of the collapse of an occupied 12-story building with the possible fall of the long-vacant two-story shop.

Apparently, irreplaceable historic sites must be a dime a dozen around there. Because they don’t seem to give a damn about this one.

………

Metro Bike is offering a pair of specials for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Black Friday Weekend – 30-Day Pass for $1
USE PROMO CODE:
BIKESEASON21
$1 for a 30-Day Metro Bike Share Pass (Regular Price: $17)
Sign up for a 30-Day Pass online at metro.net/bikeshare.
Valid Thursday, 11/25/2021 – Monday, 11/29/2021.

Cyber Monday – Save 50% on 365-Day Pass
USE PROMO CODE:
CYBERMONDAY21
$75 for a 365-Day Metro Bike Share Pass (Regular Price: $150)
Sign up 365-Day Pass online at metro.net/bikeshare.
Valid Monday, 11/29/2021 only.

………

Zachary Rynew reports progress on an extension of the San Fernando Road Bike Path, but notes there’s still work to be done.

………

Apparently, there wasn’t a lot of bikewashing at the Los Angeles Auto Show this year, unlike last year when ebikes made a splash. David Drexler forwards this photo of a Shinola bike, noting it’s the only bicycle he saw at the show this year.

Except for all of the mountain bikes used as props on the backs of SUVs, of course.

………

Our German correspondent, Ralph Durham, forwards a photo showing how bike lane detours are handled in a country where bikes, and the people on them, actually matter.

I’m sending you a picture of a short Bike and ped detour in Munich.

This is at the corner of Ludwigsbrucke (over the Isar river) and Steindorfstrasse. It is a major intersection. the bikes heading north and south have a direct path under the bridge and can avoid the issue. If you need to turn onto the bridge or off the bridge you will hit this. This bike path has a counter and records hundreds of thousands of trip per year.

The road is 2 lanes in each direction and there is work being done that directly impacts the pedestrian walkway and the 2 way bike path. So they shut down the two northbound car lanes and retriped for bikes and pedestrians to get around the construction.

A lot of care is put into allowing bikes and pedestrians to avoid direct interaction with motor vehicles when construction impacts roads and sidewalks.

Compare and contrast that with how your town handles it.

………

Remember this next time you have to lock your bike up to a street sign or parking meter.

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up. 

………

Over the long weekend, I received an email from a British man, asking me to mention the new foldie developed by his San Francisco brother-in-law — the first folding bike where the wheels fold, too.

We’ve mentioned this one before, but it’s worth mentioning again, since wheels are the biggest size limitation for folding bicycles. And with just one day left to go, the Tuck Bike still has over $42,000 to go to meet their funding goal.

So if you’re in the market for a $1,300 bike that really folds, this is your chance.

………

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

No bias here. In an interminably long screed, San Diego’s bike-hating OB Rag accuses “extreme” bicyclists of holding sway over area planners for demanding crazy things like stop signs to slow speeding drivers, and not wanting to get killed when they ride.

A British YouTuber and self-proclaimed Voice of Reason offers a bizarre rant, concluding that “supercilious nature is out of control,” and bike lanes — or maybe bike riders — must be banned for the good of the planet.

An unlicensed Aussie driver was finally sentenced to a decade behind bars after repeatedly bragging to people for nearly ten years about the night she chased down and killed a Hong Kong man who was just riding his bike home from work, after he allegedly flipped her off, getting more racist with each retelling.

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

A bike-riding British man got three year behind bars for snatching a woman’s purse, and leaving her with hip and leg injuries after knocking her to the ground. Which is two years and three months more than a career criminal in the UK got for stealing four bicycles in five weeks, on top of more than 100 prior convictions.

………

 

Local

Streets For All urges you to contact the city council to support completion of the Expo Line bike path by closing the absurd Northvale Gap, which was skipped to appease homeowners on the afore mentioned Northvale Road, who worried criminals would ride their bikes into the neighborhood to steal their stuff. No, really.

Streets For All is also calling on everyone to support a Metro board motion scheduled for Thursday to provide an additional $2 million in open streets funding; current funding allows funding of just less than half of the 27 open streets proposals from around the county.

The student newspaper at Cal State Northridge calls on the university to use surplus funds to develop its own campus-wide bikeshare system.

The massive new Burbank bridge finally opened after 20 months of construction, featuring bike lanes on either side, but only a single sidewalk on the south side of the bridge. Evidently, they couldn’t squeeze in another sidewalk because the needed to make room for three traffic lanes and a freeway onramp lane in each direction.

 

State

The San Diego Reader celebrates all the infrastructure options available for bike riders in the city. Although sharrows are nothing to celebrate.

A Berkeley woman is expected to survive after she was critically injured in a collision while riding her bike; thankfully, she was revived after having no pulse and not breathing when paramedics arrived.

A bike rider was killed in a collision in Moraga Friday morning; unfortunately, no details were available about the victim or the crash.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever left a 15-year old Stockton boy sprawled in the street after slamming into his bicycle, apparently not seeing the group of teens on their bikes directly ahead of him or her after rounding a corner.

 

National

A writer for The Atlantic confronts the deadly myth that human error is responsible for 94% of traffic fatalities — unless that human error is actually committed by the people who design and engineer our roads.

A blogger offers tips on buying an ebike, along with recommendations on what to buy.

Singletracks offers their favorite picks for Cyber Monday deals on mountain bikes and gear.

An author Philadelphia author relates how riding her bike helped her cope with a series of losses during the pandemic, including the death of her mother, who taught her how to ride a bicycle.

A five-year old Louisiana boy is able to ride a bike for the first time, thanks to a dozen people who rode their bikes 108 miles from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, raising $30,000 to buy adaptive bicycles for handicapped kids like him.

In yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late, a “groundbreaking” Florida neurosurgeon faces a vehicular homicide charge for killing a bike-riding triathlete while driving on the wrong side of the road at over four times the posted 20 mph speed limit in a borrowed Tesla; he’s been ticketed at least three times for speeding in the past five years, at speeds up to 112 mph.

 

International

A coalition of 125 community groups rode and rated Toronto’s bike lanes, concluding that nearly half deserved a failing grade. Anyone want to guess how LA’s bike lanes would fare?

It takes a major schmuck to steal an old, rusty bike from a Nova Scotia man, whole he was busy ringing the bell for a Salvation Army kettle.

That’ll teach ’em. After drivers complained about what they consider overly wide bike lanes, English officials threatened to narrow traffic lanes even more if drivers keep causing crashes.

You’ve got to be kidding. A judge in the UK ordered a former professional cyclist into rehab and wished him well following his drunken strong-armed robbery of a 13-year old girl’s bike.

A Irish man graduated at the top of his class as a bicycle mechanical engineer, 18 years after he was blinded in an assault as a teenager; he built his own tandem bike as part of his coursework.

Bike Radar reports on the cutting edge findings from the Science & Cycling Conference in Leuven, Belgium to help you go faster

An Indian district president rode his bicycle to thank voters for electing him to another term, as well as “raise awareness about the environment, simple living and fitness.”

An Indian man was busted for biking under the influence, just a day after a new Kolkata policy went into effect to give breath tests to suspected intoxicated bike riders.

A Philippine mayor was ticketed for riding a bicycle without a helmet, just a year after she signed a bill requiring them.

Philippine bike riders took to the streets to celebrate yesterday’s National Bicycle Day.

Once again, a member of New Zealand’s parliament has ridden her bike to the hospital to give birth, delivering a. healthy baby about an hour later; she also rode her bike to the hospital three years ago to deliver her first child. Thanks to Victor Bale for the link.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly profiles rising American cyclist and college student Megan Jastrab, who won three world titles in 2019 as a 17-year old junior, and took Bronze in team pursuit at the Tokyo Olympics in her first race at the elite level.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your training as a stunt person lets you walk away from a crash with another bicyclist, with nothing more than a bruised pinkie. Making bike thefts stats drop by giving up on reporting it.

And there’s more than one good use for an ebike.

Thanks again to Keith Johnson.

………

Happy Chanukah to everyone celebrating today!

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

Morning Links: Gaimon’s new Rules, distracted cop crash, Ofo kisses LA goodbye, and history of the Bike Oven

Before we get started, drop whatever you’re doing and check out today’s must-read piece, as Phil Gaimon rebuts the infamous Velominati Rules.

And completely and totally nails it.

Then again, as far as I’m concerned, he could have quit with Rule #10: “Don’t be a dick.”

Which pretty much covers every other rule. And everything else.

Go ahead, we’ll wait.

Former pro Phil Gaimon with a very odd bike helmet; photo shamelessly stolen from his website.

………

Call it a Peculiar crash, indeed.

A bike rider was the victim of a seriously distracted Peculiar, Missouri cop, who turned into his bike as he was stopped at a three-way intersection.

The officer was suspended with pay after admitting on the video that he was texting at the time of the crash.

Thanks to Todd Munson, Jeff Vaughn, J. Patrick Lynch and Victor Bale for the heads-up.

………

Chinese dockless bikeshare provider Ofo waves Los Angeles a fond farewell as the overextended company prepares to pull out of North America.

Thanks to Matthew Gomez for forwarding the email.

………

A new video tells the story of LA’s groundbreaking Bike Oven.

………

If you want to understand why LA City Councilmembers are able to act like little kings in their districts, and why it’s so hard to get anything done in this city, consider that we have the fewest city council districts of any major US city.

………

Clearly, hit-and-run is not just an American problem.

Two American bike tourists were killed in Tajikistan when a driver slammed into the group of riders before fleeing the scene; two Dutch bike tourists were also killed, and three others injured.

………

Local

Santa Monica’s city manager says SaMo is making progress dealing the the e-scooter phenomenon, calling it both a problem and an opportunity

Long Beach will host the LA area’s first nighttime open streets event with Beach Streets Twilight on August 25th.

 

State

A Bakersfield writer visits local advocacy group Bike Bakersfield, and discovers that bicycles are changing lives in the city.

A team of 11 people riding from Seattle to San Diego to raise awareness of sex trafficking pause in Santa Barbara to discuss the problem.

The speeding bicyclist who killed an elderly pedestrian in San Francisco several years ago, bringing scorn and derision on the Strava app, is now launching his own ten-part podcast to give his side of the story.

Sad news from Oakland, where a bike rider was killed in a hit-and-run, which apparently wasn’t deemed newsworthy by the local media.

 

National

When you’re a JetBlue pilot, your mountain bike flies for free.

Who says you can’t put a bike rack on a Vespa?

Forbes says bike-friendly apartments are popular with renters.

Next City says when you imagine who is biking in American cities, you’re probably wrong.

Streetsblog talks with Lime Bike Chief Programs Officer Scott Kubly, who says e-scooters are the next big thing.

The New Yorker takes an in-depth look at the extreme cyclists of the Navajo Nation.

A former player for the Arizona Diamondbacks is creating his own cross-country triathlon, starting with a seven-mile swim across the San Francisco Bay, followed by biking 2,344 mile to Chicago, then running the rest of the way to New York.

Houston police say noted cardiac surgeon Dr. Mark Hausknecht was targeted by the bike-riding killer who shot him as he rode his bike.

People can’t seem to figure out why there are stripes in a Texas bike lane. You’d think the local DOT might want to explain that before the paint went down. But evidently, you’d be wrong.

The Department of DIY strikes again, as Rhode Island residents install their own stop signs on a bike path where a six-year old boy was killed recently, rather than wait months to go through official channels; the state DOT says they can stay for now.

The Boston Globe says dockless ebikes and scooters don’t bite, so relax already.

They get it. A Virginia newspaper says the best way to reduce the severity of bike crashes is for everyone to slow the hell down. Okay, I may have added “the hell” to that, but still.

 

International

Call it urologist humor. A new study shows that a shock absorbing bike seat can help prevent erectile dysfunction in men due to uneven road surfaces, and genital numbness in both men and women. As well as helping make “cycling be less of a pain in the butt.”

The Guardian says road trips are even better by bike, and offers four more to add to your bike bucket list, including our own Route 66. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal recommends a bike tour through the “Tuscany of America,” while the Japan Times recommends the island of Kyushu.

Vancouver’s ex-city planner says streets should make people want to stick around. Not, say, drive through as quickly as possible, as with most of Los Angeles.

She gets it. A British Columbia automotive writer says drivers should be grateful that every bike rider takes a car off the road, even if the riders are doing it for their own benefit.

A Yukon mountain biker was lucky to make it back home after a stray bullet fired by a man sighting a rifle barely missed him. At least, we can all hope it was an accident.

Caught on video: After riding erratically, a Winnipeg bike rider crashes into a stopped car while fleeing from police, then takes off on foot. Watch carefully in the background, and you can see a passerby trying to roundup the rider’s stray wheel following the crash.

Montreal bicyclists are angry over getting banned from a historic cemetery due to the actions of a few riders, even though cars, electric scooters, dog walkers and picnickers are still allowed.

So much for the myth of the scofflaw cyclist. A new London study showed only a tiny fraction of bike riders rode faster than 20 mph on the city’s cycle superhighways, and the overwhelming majority obeyed traffic signals.

The Guardian’s Peter Walker asks why London’s Conservative mayoral candidates won’t embrace the city’s bicycle infrastructure, when the free-market case for it is so clear.

Hundreds of teenage bicyclists descend on a British city, wreaking havoc by surrounding cars and frightening drivers.

The Netherland’s world-standard bikeways are melting under Northern Europe’s unrelenting heatwave.

Cycling legend Gino Bartali is getting animated in a new film.

Abu Dhabi is getting bike friendly, as it nears the halfway mark in its goal of adding 500 bike racks throughout the city.

Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris is one of us; the women’s representative to the Kenyan parliament rode with the Nairobi Critical Mass last week.

Tests show ebikes could save Australian commuters up to $200 a week.

 

Competitive Cycling

Who says women are the weaker sex? An international team of women’s cyclists completed the entire 2018 Tour de France route one day ahead of the official Tour to show that women can handle the rigors of a Grand Tour.

Geraint Thomas made history by becoming the first Welsh rider to win the tour, as his TV announcer wife waited for him at the finish line in Paris. Although London’s notorious tabloid press was quick to paint him as a “self-confessed booze-loving party animal.”

Houston’s Lawson Craddock made history by becoming the first American to capture the Lanterne Rouge for finishing last in the Tour de France, and the first to trail the race from start to finish. On the other hand, he rode all but the first few kilometers with a broken shoulder blade, while raising more than twice the $102,100 stretch goal for a Houston velodrome.

Ireland’s Dan Martin beat out Craddock and a handful of better known riders to win the award as the tour’s most competitive rider.

Getty Images wants to introduce you to famed Tour de France superfan El Diablo.

In a great, if somewhat surreal, interview, the Irish writer who blew the whistle on organized doping in pro cycling — and lost his job as a result — talks with ex-Tour de France winner and current cannabis entrepreneur Floyd Landis.

The Conversation asks if pro cycling has a concussion problem.

This week marks the annual Big Bear Cycling Festival and the Tour de Big Bear.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to use your bike to commit a crime, take it with you when you go. Building a bike to survive the apocalypse.

And some drivers hide their license plates to avoid getting caught on speed cameras; bicyclists can just ride naked.

 

Morning Links: Beverly Hills considers SaMo Blvd bike lanes, bikes as mobility aids, and not speeding fast enough

Don’t miss yesterday’s great guest post by Better Bike’s Mark Elliot about the return of the never-ending debate over bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd through Beverly Hills. After being rejected several times in recent years, they will be back before the Beverly Hills City Council at 7 pm tonight.

The anti-bike NIMBYs will undoubtedly be out in force once again. So turn out in person if you can; if not, email to voice your support for a desperately needed safe route through the city.

Here are the vital details from Elliot’s post.

Help us support bicycle lanes for Santa Monica Boulevard!

Please contact City Council by email with your support for high-visibility bicycle lanes. Reach Council at mayorandcitycouncil@beverlyhills.org. Your short statement should indicate whether you are a resident and/or if you work here. Those are important considerations for any councilmember.

Plan to attend the meting on Tuesday, June 20th in Council Chambers, City Hall, 455 N. Rexford Drive. The curtain will rise at 7 p.m. and the main act should hit the stage at 7:45 or so (please refer to the agenda).

………

A British survey confirms that many disabled people use bicycles as a mobility aid, finding that traveling by bike is easier on them and healthier than other means.

Yet they are frequently required to dismount and walk their bikes, despite using them in the same way someone might use a wheelchair or mobility scooter.

Which is something else to consider in bike-unfriendly Los Angeles, where the city’s disconnected bike non-network could raise issues of compliance with the ADA (American’s with Disabilities Act), if it prevents people with physical mobility issues from using their bikes to get around.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

A Canadian cyclist got pulled over by a cop, not because he was speeding on a descent, which he was. But because he was doing it in the traffic lane, which forced drivers who wanted to zoom even faster above the speed limit to change lanes to pass him.

Go ahead and think about that one for awhile.

………

Italian cyclist Gianni Moscon is back to racing after a six-week suspension for making an alleged racist comment to another rider, which he kind of denies.

Hundreds of cyclists have competed in RAAM. But how many have done it without any legs? Then again, racing with one arm and a bum leg isn’t exactly easy, either.

The 25th annual Yukon to Alaska Kluane-Chilkat International Bike Relay will have to wait a year, after the race was cancelled due to a very late spring snow storm — except for the unicyclists, who decided to ride it anyway. And no, you won’t be getting your money back.

………

Local

Transportation planner and UCLA faculty member Ryan Snyder says LA must be a bikeable city in order to be a world class city.

Apparently, Elon Musk thinks you’re going to want to walk or bike through his underground tunnels.

LA designer Phillip Lim was inspired to get into the movie business while on a bike ride along New York’s East river with a director friend.

CiclaValley explores the eastern portion of Angeles Crest Highway.

Santa Monica Spoke is hosting a community ride with the mayor of Santa Monica this Sunday.

 

State

Bicycling injuries have dropped for children and teens in California, while more bike riders over 55 are suffering injuries serious enough to visit the ER. The most obvious explanation is that fewer children and teens are riding bikes, while more people over 55 have taken up recreational riding.

A transient bicyclist was injured when he was hit by a car in Anaheim while ghost riding a second bicycle. Let’s hope police checked the ownership of the second bike; ghost riding is a common way to transport a freshly stolen bicycle.

People continue to be attacked by rock-throwing residents of homeless camps, for no apparent reason, along a popular bike path on the American River in Sacramento; one rider was seriously injured last week.

A mobile bike co-op helps keep Ukiah bicyclists on the road.

A pro skier is spending her summer selling homemade gourmet popsicles by bicycle in Lake Tahoe.

 

National

Deadspin offers a comprehensive guide to riding your bike, saying buy a goddam helmet and don’t buy that fixie; thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the link. Meanwhile, Bicycling explains everything you need to know about ebikes.

A Texas writer says yes, bicyclists have to obey the law, too. But we bear the brunt of collisions when drivers don’t.

After an Arkansas teenager set up a lemonade stand to try earn money for a bicycle, kindhearted strangers gave him two bikes, and bought more lemonade than he could make.

Austin TX residents have started a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the Spanish-speaking bike rider who was shot in the face with a shotgun by a man who said he was just blowing off steam.

A writer for the New York Post seems to think she’s the victim after people take offense at her tweet that she’s nearly been run down by cars twice and by bikes 3,763,459 times, and that we should be grateful that the city has been transformed for bike riders. Maybe she could try looking up before she steps off the curb next time.

A New Jersey man gets 35 years for killing a bike-riding man who got caught in the crossfire of a shootout near his home. Now if they’d just take it that seriously when people use their cars as weapons.

A Philly writer takes offense when two cops refer to bicyclists as “hood ornaments” on Facebook. Although it’s more offensive that police officials didn’t.

 

International

In a report that should surprise no one, a Canadian newspaper concludes that drivers usually receive nothing more than a fine for hitting a bike rider. Which makes Canada pretty much like just about everywhere else.

After 14 months of sobriety, a Canadian man is riding over 5,100 miles across the country to raise awareness of addiction.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 85-year old Quebec man is still riding 25 miles a day, and says crashing is just part of the sport. Except for the crashing part, that is.

A Montreal cyclist survives by hiding in a small hole after encountering a tornado on his ride.

Lululemon is getting into the “small” bicycling market by investing in a Canadian bikewear maker.

Bike riders in Canada’s Maritime Provinces call for more to be done to protect people on bicycles.

London’s new walking and cycling czar lays out plans for the future of bicycling in the city; the city’s new cycle superhighways and quietways have boosted bicycling rates 56%.

A British bicyclist nearly died when paramedics misdiagnosed a rare adrenal condition due to a benign tumor, assuming he was just a drunk tourist before sending him to the hospital. If anything ever happens to me, promise you’ll smack anyone who refers to me an “avid cyclist.

Britain’s Cyclist magazine takes a tour of Fausto Pinarello’s personal bicycle collection.

The Italian soccer coach who promised his team he’d ride across the country if they avoided relegation to a lower league finishes his 800-mile journey in nine days.

Caught on video: A bike-raging Aussie cyclist lashes out at a woman driver after she pulls out of a parking space into his path, apparently without looking. Seriously, don’t throw a temper tantrum like that. And if you do, don’t be stupid enough to post it online.

A new survey says more women in Canberra, Australia are riding bikes — including BMX bikes. However, the opposite is true in the country’s New South Wales state, where cycling rates are dropping, especially among women. Which couldn’t possibly have anything to do with NSW’s draconian fines for cycling violations that went into effect last year.

 

Finally…

No, Fox News host Sean Hannity was not killed in a bike crash — and didn’t fake it to catch a terrorist, either. Hold your horses on getting that poop transplant.

And don’t chase bike riders in your creepy clown suit.

 

Morning Links: Culver City TOD study, putting immigration before injuries, and a comprehensive look at bike locks

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Jim Pocrass. So come back later this morning, when he’ll be back with a new guest post discussing the problems with police reports after a crash.

………

Things are changing in Culver City.

What used to be a bike-unfriendly city where the police would line up to turn back nighttime group rides has made great strides in recent years to become a safer and more inviting place to ride.

And that focus continues with a Transit Oriented District (TOD) Visioning Study to establish “an innovative Transit Oriented Development framework that could become a model for the larger Los Angeles region,” according to an email I received from David Alpaugh of Johnson Fain urban design and planning.

According to Alpaugh, Culver City’s planning efforts have already resulted in a higher-density, transit-served neighborhood that is improving both regional mobility and air quality. The goal of the study is to understand how to evolve the City into a “Transit Oriented Community” where people continue to drive less and walk, bike, and take transit more.

From now until August 2017, the Culver City TOD Visioning Study team is helping stakeholders collaborate through a series of workshops and an interactive website. Our aim is to explore measures and interventions that would lead to sustained alternative transit and mobility improvements. The primary study area is defined as the area within the half-mile walk and 3-mile biking radiuses from the Culver City Expo Station.

As of this writing, there are three more public workshops left:

  1. Thursday,May 25 – Workshop VI: Design Charrette (6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) – Rotunda Room, Veterans Memorial Building – 4117 Overland Ave, Culver City, CA 9023
  2. Thursday,June 15 – Workshop VII: Review of Preliminary Recommendations (7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) – Multipurpose Room, VeteransMemorial Building – 4117 Overland Ave, Culver City, CA 90230
  3. Thursday,July 6 – Workshop VIII: Presentation of Final Recommendations (6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) – Location TBA

………

In a horrifying example of just how bad things have gotten in this country, a Honduran immigrant was struck by a pickup while riding his bike to work in Key West FL.

But instead of calling for help or asking if he was okay, the first words out of the responding cop’s mouth were to question his immigration status.

So much for only going after the bad guys.

Basic police work, let alone common human decency, would dictate that investigating the crash and tending to the victim’s injuries should take precedence over any questions of immigration status.

It’s not a question of right or left.

Just right and wrong.

………

Mike Wilkinson forwards a lengthy bike lock review from The Sweethome, in which they tried break to 27 locks using every method they could come up with.

And come up with this conclusion.

So why bother to lock a bike? That’s the question most people ask once they realize the general disregard most pedestrians show toward a bike being stolen and what modern cordless power tools have done to bicycle security. Why bother securing your bike with a better lock if it means only an extra minute at most, maybe even mere seconds, to a thief? It unfortunately comes down to beating the people around you—after all, you don’t need to outrun a bear, only the person next to you. If you can ride a less expensive bike and lock it up properly with a better lock in a safer location, you can remove the temptation for a thief to pick your bike over an easier target.

In some situations even the cheapest lock can provide this amount of security, but we believe that a small upgrade to the Kryptonite Evolution Mini-7 allows you to eliminate more methods of attack over the competition at this price—and as a result, in most cities your bike will be targeted only by very determined thieves. Most thieves don’t want to steal your bike, they want only to steal a bike. If one is easier to steal and valued more, that’s the one they want. If you can persuade them to pick another target, that’s all you need, but if they still decide to target your bike, we think you should at least give yourself a chance of catching them, by using a lock that needs to be cut with a grinder.

It’s worth a read if you’re concerned about protecting your bike from thieves.

And if you’re not, you should be.

As Wilkinson points out, it’s also a good reminder to register your bike, particularly since they were able to eventually defeat every lock they tested.

………

And while we’re on the subject —

Culver City police uncovered a bicycle chop shop at a homeless encampment under a bridge over Ballona Creek. On the other hand, about the only reason police wouldn’t find a bike chop shop at a homeless camp is if they’re not looking.

Santa Cruz police bust a bike thief after he stole a $5,000 mountain bike and was photographed and chased by a witness; police suspect he also stole a $3,000 bicycle they found hidden in some bushes nearby.

A Dallas TV station sets out their own bait bikes to see how fast they’d get stolen, and where they’d end up. Neither of which should surprise anyone.

………

Wednesday’s spoiler-free mountain stage of the Giro ended in a solo breakaway, while a Danish rider won 100 bottles of beer for being the heaviest cyclist to make it over the Stelvia pass in Tuesday’s stage of the Giro. Which should make him even heavier next time.

Teams were announced for the new four-stage Colorado Classic bike race, including four WorldTour teams.

Good thing the doping era is over. A pair of Russian and Azerbaijan cyclists have been banned for using prohibited substances. And a Brazilian cycling team has been suspended for the second time due to doping violations.

Speaking of which, Lance just got engaged to his live-in girlfriend of ten years.

………

Local

After one bike rider was killed and another injured in what a witness described as a deliberate attack, the LAPD offered a tone-deaf suggestion to use helmets and lights.

 

State

Newport Beach considers restricting ebikes on the boardwalk.

Ride without a light in Sacramento, and you could get ticketed by a state Alcohol Beverage Control agent. Even if you haven’t been drinking.

The Whiskeytown National Recreation Area has been a popular site for mountain biking and MTB racing for decades — never mind that it happens to be illegal. National Park officials are trying to change that.

 

National

Streetsblog says Trump’s proposed budget would be a disaster for transit, walking and bicycling.

The brother of a Seattle bicyclist files suit against the city and the transit agency, claiming streetcar tracks were responsible for her death.

A Montana man got a well-deserved 15 to 25 years behind bars for deliberately running down a man on a bicycle with his car so he could rifle through the man’s backpack and steal his wallet; his victim is still recovering from his injuries.

Denver Streetsblog suggests that maybe the Colorado Department of Transportation should focus on building safe streets instead of looking for exotic safety concepts.

An Oklahoma paper talks with a man who’s been riding across the US for 26 years to raise funds and attention for multiple sclerosis, covering 287,000 miles and raising $148,740, inspired by a fellow cyclist who died of the disease.

Michigan offers more bike trails than any other state, with over 12,500 miles of state–designated trails and 2,600 miles of rail trails.

A Boston columnist says bike crashes are down, so what are all these enraged cyclists — and politicians who cater to them — complaining about? Meanwhile, a writer for the Globe says it’s up to everyone to learn how to share the streets safely, and pitting one side against the other doesn’t help anyone.

Caught on video: A handcuffed bike thief performs a pretty impressive flying faceplant fleeing from police in Florida.

 

International

How about a fat bike ride along the Northwest Passage, 500 miles above the Arctic Circle?

A Montreal parking enforcement officer has taken to posting photos on Twitter of trucks that park in bike lanes.

The war on bikes continues, as a British driver followed a pair of bicyclists onto the grass to run one down before fleeing the scene.

Tired of hearing there’s no room for bike lanes on the streets of the Latvian capital, Riga bike advocates paint their own to prove city officials wrong.

A BBC TV host discusses her participation in Tour d’Afrique, the world’s longest bike race, which runs nearly 7,500 miles from Cairo to Capetown. And getting chased by elephants and pelted with rocks and a whip along the way.

A new Myanmar bike tour follows the route of a 16th Century king, while showing off the countryside, and the people.

 

Finally…

Evidently, summer cyclists are edible. It takes a village to make a kid wear his bike helmet.

And seriously, if you’re carrying meth, marijuana, syringes and other drug paraphernalia on your bike, just put a damn light on it, already.

 

Morning Links: Teenage bike crash victim pepper sprayed by police, and help make Westwood bike friendly

The good news is, we’ve figured out what caused the problem with email notifications for new posts. Now the problem is figuring out how to fix it. Hopefully we’ll have it working again soon.

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Evidently, you don’t want to get hit by a car when riding while mixed-race in Hagerstown, Maryland.

A 15-year old girl was handcuffed, pepper sprayed and arrested for the crime of refusing transport to a hospital after she was struck by a car while riding her bike.

Even though there’s no law requiring collision victims to accept medical treatment against their will.

And instead of being transported to the hospital, she was taken to the police station, where she was charged with disorderly conduct, two counts of second degree assault, possession of marijuana and failure to obey a traffic device.

Although her attorney describes the amount of marijuana found in her backpack as “a flake.”

Then to cap matters, police later said she wasn’t booked for refusing treatment, but because she failed to provide proof of insurance.

For a 15-year old. On a bicycle.

Police officials claim they used “appropriate force” in pepper spraying the five-foot tall, 105 pound girl, saying it was the minimal amount needed to gain her cooperation; meanwhile, the town’s mayor crashed a press conference with the girl, turning it into a shouting match with her lawyer.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

UCLA’s Daily Bruin writes about the city council’s vote to remove the bike lanes planned for Westwood Blvd from the Mobility Plan, and move them to Gayley instead.

Meanwhile, Westwood Village is looking for community members to help revise the area’s specific plan. Which would be a perfect opportunity to suggest making the village more bike and pedestrian friendly.

And moving the bike lanes back to Westwood Blvd.

………

Weshigh had an unpleasant encounter of the cop kind on his ride home last night, as an officer yells at him to get to the right on a non-sharable lane before passing other traffic on the right.

………

Today is the last day to apply for the LACBC’s Policy and Outreach Coordinator position.

And Multicultural Communities for Mobility says several positions are available to help make LA’s nascent bikeshare system equitable for all constituents of the city.

……….

Local

Streetsblog strongly endorses Measure M to impose a half-cent sales tax to fund a wide rage of road, transit and active transportation projects. Just for the record, it has my support, as well.

CiclaValley endorses bike lanes on Lankershim Blvd, and asks you to stand up for people spaces on the North Hollywood corridor.

Fourth District Councilmember David Ryu calls on the city to eliminate human-operated vehicles from LA streets by 2035.

There will be a free bike valet at Sunday’s Abbott Kinney Festival, where $25 in purchases will enter you in a drawing for a Linus Roadster Classic bike. Biking there makes a lot of sense, given the large crowds, heavy traffic and extreme parking shortage at the annual event.

Deputies with the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station are looking for the owners of several bicycles they recovered from a homeless encampment, some of which have been partially dismounted and repainted.

Congratulations to the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition’s Kevin Burton, who will be honored on Sunday for Outstanding Contribution to Public Safety for his work with the group.

Santa Monica police are conducting yet another of their bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operations today.

 

State

Australian BMX silver medalist Sam Willoughby suffered a severe spinal injury while riding at the Olympic training center in Chula Vista two weeks ago; following surgery, he’s regained use of his arms, but is still unable to move from the chest down.

The Camarillo Rotary Club will host a Biking, Brews and BBQ Ride this Saturday to raise funds for local causes.

Uber is teaming with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to provide bicycle safety training for their drivers; the SFBC prepared four videos instructing them how to drive around bicyclists.

Benicia police pitch in to buy a new bicycle for a 19-year old man who had to walk two hours each way to work after his car broke down.

 

National

Oregon is less than nine miles, though several years, from completing what will eventually be a 73-mile bikeway along the Columbia River Gorge.

Colorado authorities are looking for a hit-and-run bicyclist who injured an 86-year old man on a walking trail where bikes are banned; the rider stopped to ask if the man was okay, then took off when he answered no. Bike collisions are no different from car crashes; you are legally required to stay at the scene and exchange information, on or offroad.

An Ohio woman accuses the local police of failing to properly investigate the collision that killed her husband as he rode his bicycle with a friend; even though the driver had two prior convictions for driving under the influence and had admitted to drinking the night before, police claimed they had no probable cause to test for drugs or alcohol. If killing someone isn’t probable cause, what the hell is?

The co-defensive coordinator for the Ohio State University football team hit a bike rider as he was driving near the campus Thursday morning.

More on the wealthy opponents of New York’s Prospect Park West bike lanes finally giving up their lawsuit after five years, after claiming they had been vindicated; Streetsblog says they did irreparable harm to the city.

Challenging piece from a DC cyclist, who is giving up on America after being unable to find a safe city to ride, and considering a move to the Netherlands.

A writer for Forbes explains why she put her life on hold to ride across the country from Georgia to California.

 

International

Caught on video: A British bike rider is harassed and threatened by a road raging FedEx driver who lurched just inches from his rear wheel.

When a Brit cyclist wrote the head of a company complaining about repeated harassment by one of its drivers, he was stunned to receive a response blaming him for his own stupidity and suggesting that he use the non-existent bike lanes.

An Aussie study concludes requiring helmets for motor vehicle occupants could save 17 times as many people as a bike helmet mandate.

A Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce official says a proposed rail to trail conversion could open the Australian state up to an avalanche of tourism.

 

Finally…

Apparently, not everyone is a fan of bicycles. Your bike could be why you have trouble having an orgasm.

And now you can make tax deductible donation to a pro cycling team.

 

Guest Post: Law Enforcement Needs to Understand Traffic Laws

Despite years of effort, we still have a long way to go in educating police officers on the rights of bicyclists. 

It seemed like we had solved the problem, in Los Angeles at least, five years ago when the LAPD worked with bike riders and the City Attorney to clarify the laws governing bicycling, and create a bicycle training module that all street level officers were required to complete.

Yet bicyclists still encounter officers who seem to have missed, or forgotten, that training. And as architect and bike commuter Michael MacDonald learned the hard way, we still haven’t made any progress with the Sheriff’s Department. 

lasd_interaction

By Michael MacDonald

I’m frequently the recipient of harassment, insults, and aggression from drivers who don’t understand that riding on the street is perfectly legal. Commuting by bike around Los Angeles — with little-to-no bike infrastructure within a 5-mile radius of my house, I’ve come to expect the regular rage-fueled driver. And yet as frustrating as this aggression is from the motoring public, it is even more demoralizing to receive similar harassment from law enforcement personnel. Too many officers in Los Angeles aren’t familiar with the fact that a person on a bike is perfectly within their rights to control a travel lane on almost all Los Angeles streets, and that cyclists take the lane for safety.

Before I started riding a bike in Los Angeles, I had thankfully had very few interactions with law enforcement. But then in 2013, I was detained in the back of a Sheriff’s Department squad car because 2 deputies thought that a person riding a bike on the street in Rosemead didn’t look right.

Over the last 2 weeks, motorcycle officers have twice stopped me – for riding in the street, legally.

The first incident was on returning from the wonderful CicLAvia Southeast Cities on May, 15 2016. On my way home by bike, still on a high note from the event, I took Central Avenue. Despite its lack of bike lanes, Central is a critical North/South connector within South L.A. Proposed bike lanes on Central are included in the City’s Mobility Plan 2035, have widespread community support, and are needed to address Central’s horrific safety record. But frustratingly, Councilmember Curren Price has blocked the bike lanes from being installed and is working with Councilmember Paul Koretz to try to get them removed from the Plan, so they won’t even be considered in the future.

While I was waiting at a red light in the rightmost travel lane on Central at 27th Street, an LAPD motorcycle officer approached at a rapid pace and stopped inches from me. He proceeded to aggressively explain, “This isn’t your lane – you can’t ride in the middle.” I have been riding long enough to have nearly memorized California Vehicle Code, not just CVC 21202(a)(3), but 21656, 21760, and 22400 too. I knew he was wrong. And yet his tone and demeanor made it clear this wasn’t a conversation. This was a stern demand with the threat of a ticket seconds away.

As he pulled off, I wasn’t even clear on how he expected me to ride since the lanes on Central are so narrow. I stopped and took some time to compose myself after this demoralizing experience of state-sponsored harassment. Then, I continued to ride in the middle of the lane: where it’s safest when bike lanes aren’t provided, and where California’s Vehicle Code says I have the right to ride.

……..

10 days later, I was again confronted with a similar situation – but this time I had my helmet camera rolling. During the Tuesday evening rush hour on May 24th, a Sheriff’s deputy pulled up alongside me as I rode in the Wilshire Blvd bus/bike lane through Koreatown (Wilshire & Kingsley). Just as before, the deputy clearly wasn’t familiar with relevant California traffic laws, but still felt the need to tell me what I was doing would not be permitted and that I would receive a ticket if I continued on.

First, as an aside, I will say that these Wilshire bus/bike lanes are so frequently filled with dangerous scofflaw drivers that it’s a tiny bit refreshing to see them actually being patrolled, and I commend Metro/the Sheriff’s Department for efforts to try to speed up the 20 & 720 buses on this route. But this deputy seems to be completely unaware that these lanes are also for the use of people on bikes, just as the lane’s signage says.

Photo of Los Angeles’ peak hour bus/bike lane signage, credit: Marc Caswell

Photo of Los Angeles’ peak hour bus/bike lane signage, credit: Marc Caswell

He started by claiming that cyclists are not permitted to use the bus/bike lane whatsoever. After I pointed out the sign ahead saying, ‘Bikes OK,’ he said that cyclists must ride the curb edge, which is dangerous and without legal basis. Finally, he claimed that cyclists are required to get out of the way of buses. Of course, how people on bikes are supposed to accomplish this feat within this tightly sized lane with no turnouts is a mystery to me.

Just to state the obvious: this deputy is wrong on all counts. First, LADOT has designated these lanes for the use of bicycles and accordingly posted signs stating “Bikes OK.” Second, there is no requirement to ride along the curb as CVC 21202(a)(3) applies, since the lane is too narrow to for a bicycle to be safely be ridden side-by-side with a vehicle, let alone a bus. Metro’s own “Bike Guide” even instructs people on bikes to ride at the center of the lane when proceeding straight. Third, there is no requirement for bikes or slower vehicles to turn-out on a multi-lane roadway. CVC 21656, the law requiring vehicles to turn out, only applies on 2-lane highways – and even then, it only is triggered when there is a queue of 5 vehicles behind.

This isn’t the first time someone has been pulled over by LASD in a bus/bike lane in Los Angeles. In 2014, my friend, Marc Caswell, was wrongly ticketed by a Sheriff’s deputy for legally riding in a bus/bike lane on Sunset Blvd. In the end, the deputy failed to appear at the hearing, so the ticket was dismissed.

But it isn’t just being pulled over. Twice last year, I was aggressively instructed by Sheriff’s deputies to ride up onto the sidewalk to let a bus pass while in the Sunset Boulevard bus/bike lane. And when I called to report Tuesday’s incident on Wilshire, the LASD Watch Commander also appeared to be completely unfamiliar that bikes might be permitted to ride in bus/bike lanes or centered within a lane.

If I have been the recipient of these types of incidents three times in the last year, how many other Angelenos have received the same dangerous misinformation, been ticketed incorrectly, or had an unwarranted traffic stop trigger other policing problems? If we are to look to officers to enforce traffic laws, it seems only reasonable to expect that they would understand the law. And, certainly, we should not accept these officers instructing people to endanger themselves by riding in an unsafe way just to speed up motor vehicle traffic.

……..

It’s obvious to me at this point that LADOT, Metro & the Sheriff’s Department need to sit down and get on the same page about bus/bike lanes and the Vehicle Code. There is a simple fix: Sheriff’s Department deputies, who are acting on Metro’s behalf, need to understand the laws they are sworn to enforce. Since these patrols are funded by Metro, the Agency has the responsibility to ensure that these deputies are performing enforcement in compliance with Metro policies.

The bigger picture is that all L.A. law enforcement needs to step up their game on bikes. I am not suggesting special treatment, just that officers take some time to better understand the laws they enforce. Different departments have made some commendable strides, recognizing that cyclists belong on the street and don’t deserve extra scrutiny beyond that which is applied to motorists. But we are well past the point where any law enforcement officer patrolling L.A. streets has an excuse to not be familiar with the fact that people are allowed to ride bikes in the street and legally afforded options to maintain their own safety.

The City, County, and State all have ambitious goals to increase bicycle commuting to increase public health and reduce greenhouse emissions. To paraphrase a friend of mine: People are not going to be attracted to cycling as long as you need to be a traffic law expert – capable of citing Vehicle Code chapter, line, and verse – just to ride on L.A. streets.

We need law enforcement to get on board. And fast.

……..

South Los Angeles-based architect Michael MacDonald is a frequent bike commuter and a steering committee member of local advocacy group, Bike The Vote L.A. His architectural practice, Studio MMD, provided design for Street Beats, one of 8 project teams awarded by the Mayor’s Great Streets LA challenge grant program to re-envision Los Angeles streets.