Tag Archive for terrorism

LA considers easing bollard applications to protect buildings — oh, and us, too; and bike-riding boy bitten by OC coyote

October 24, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 67 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Photo from the World Bollard Association Twitter/X account.

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About damn time.

The Los Angeles City Council took the first of many steps that will be needed to fulfill the promise of a carfree 2028 Olympics, advancing a proposal to fast-track applications for bollards to protect us from motor vehicles.

Or maybe not.

According to My News LA,

“Vehicle ramming attacks, where a perpetrator deliberately rams a vehicle into pedestrians or buildings, have been increasing around the world in recent years,” the motion reads. “With the city hosting major international events in the next few years … the city should look at ways to safeguard residents and visitors from these types of attacks.”

So, the plan is actually to protect buildings and pedestrians from vehicular terrorists, rather than the more pedestrian form of terrorism we face from the people in the big, deadly machines on a daily basis.

But wait, there’s more.

In addition to safety at events like the 2028 Olympic Games, bollards could also enhance protection for bike lanes across the city.

At least we’re an afterthought, anyway.

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As if loose dogs aren’t a big enough danger to people on bicycles, a ten-year old kid was bitten by a coyote while riding his bike in Irvine Tuesday morning.

Fortunately, the boy wasn’t seriously injured.

But there’s always a danger of rabies or other canine diseases with a bite like that from a wild animal, so let’s hope he’s okay.

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A Calbike guest post from the executive director of dblTilde CORE, Inc discusses the results of the 50+ Cycling survey they conducted in partnership with the Mineta Transportation Institute.

Not surprisingly, it pretty much shows what you might expect.

Mobility habits naturally evolve with age. These habits can be described as a bell curve that follows childhood to adulthood to the third stage of life, going from dependent mobility to independent mobility and back. Many older adults eventually stop driving due to physical or cognitive changes. In fact, AARP data indicates that while 80% of people over 65 are still driving, this number drops sharply to 35% by age 80.

The 50+ Cycling Survey shows that cycling remains an attractive option for those looking to stay active and independently mobile. For many older adults, cycling can be a key mode of transportation for independent mobility, so they don’t have to rely on others or public transportation.

You can take this year’s survey here.

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Sounds like you won’t want to miss this week’s Bike Talk.

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And you definitely won’t want to miss North OC Bikes monthly family friendly bike ride tomorrow night.

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It’s now 309 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

Hundreds of Toronto bike riders turned out to protest proposed legislation that would give the conservative provincial government veto power over all new bike lanes, allowing their installation “only where it makes sense.”

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Local  

The Los Angeles Times recommends riding a bicycle to Dodger Stadium and locking up at one of the stadiums numerous bike racks for tomorrow’s first game of the World Series, as part of their five ways to avoid parking and traffic headaches — as long as you’re willing to ride up some hills.

Streets For All calls on the National Cemetery Administration to reopen Constitution Ave through Westwood’s Los Angeles National Cemetery, which has been closed since the 9/11 attacks — apparently out of the well-founded fear of walking or bicycling terrorists attacking the thousands of dead service people buried there. You have until next Monday to get your comments in.

This is who we share the road with. After a homeless man was killed by an alleged drunk driver near the Santa Monica Pier last week, the Santa Monica Daily Press says it reflects the growing trend of traffic violence in the LA Area.

 

State

Coronado is moving forward with their own ebike regulations, including barring kids under 12 from riding them.

A Carpenteria letter writer says organizers of the “the Ride Santa Barbara bike race” — note the key word “ride,” not race — left an “insane” amount of colored stickers and spray-painted arrows on the street near his house, wondering why that’s not vandalism. Um, maybe because they had a permit, and it should eventually go away with weather and wear. 

 

National

A Ukrainian couple went from a happy life in Kyiv to living with their kids and running a bike shop in Boulder, Colorado after the Russians invaded.

No surprise here, either. A new study from Cambridge, Massachusetts shows bicycling use soars after the installation of a physically separated bike lane.

Police in New York are on the lookout for burglary suspects who killed a woman riding a bicycle while fleeing from cops who tried to pull them over; the three suspects fled on foot after slamming into the woman, who was described as an avid cyclist. Yet one more example of the dangers of police chases to innocent people. 

New York officials finalized plans for a $2 million ebike trade-in program to get dangerous lithium-ion ebike batteries off the streets.

Nice program from Louisiana’s Iberia Parish, where officials are calling for bicycle donations for victims of domestic violence, in a city with no public transportation options.

 

International

Momentum highlights seven “stunning” national bike trails, ranging from Europe to Asia and the Middle East, with a stop in the US for the Great American Rail-Trail.

Researchers from the University of Toronto are using machine learning to optimize the placement of bike lanes, discovering that optimizing for equity results in a more spread out map, with less concentration in the downtown area.

Scottish bicyclists are calling for improvements to a narrow, “unsafe, unacceptable” shared-use path — which is nothing more than a striped highway shoulder —  over fears strong winds could blow riders into high speed traffic.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your brand new pro bike ends up 50 feet down a cliff. And always wear a hoodie emblazoned with “Crooks” when you steal an ebike, so cops have an easier time identifying you afterward.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

NY bike path terrorist spared death penalty, and memorial ride Saturday for murdered bike rider Dr. Michael Mammone

March 15, 2023 / / 2 comments

Convicted terrorist Sayfullo Saipov will spend the rest of his life in a Super Max prison, after a New York jury failed to agree on the death penalty.

Saipov was convicted of killing eight people, and injuring several others, when he drove a rented U-Haul truck down a Manhattan bike path on Halloween Day in 2017.

Several of the other victims suffered life-altering injuries, ranging from paralysis to lost limbs.

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Laguna Beach will host a Ride in Peace memorial ride on Saturday for Dr. Michael Mammone, who was murdered by a man apparently suffering from mental illness as he was riding his bike last month.

Dr. Mammone, an emergency physician with Providence Mission Hospital, was stopped at a red light on PCH in Laguna Beach when he was allegedly intentionally run down from behind by Vanroy Evan Smith, who got out of his car and stabbed Mammone to death, apparently choosing his victim at random.

So when you ride to remember Dr. Mammone this weekend, remember, too, this country’s failed mental health system that led to his murder.

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Some of LA’s leading advocacy groups are teaming up to fight for safer streets.

Although the question is whether street safety advocacy groups Streets For All and Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, weren’t invited, or chose not to play.

And why, either way.

https://twitter.com/LosAngelesWalks/status/1633961609013116929

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ActiveSGV invites you to help scout out the next 626 Golden Streets ride.

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Mark your calendar for June’s Culver City Pride Ride.

https://twitter.com/CulverCityPride/status/1633252099537666050

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This is why people keep dying on our streets.

And why it will only get worse as vehicles keep getting bigger.

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Very cool to know the estimable will.i.am is one of us.

And so, evidently, is Twisted Sister.

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

Fox News wants you to be afraid, very afraid, of ebikes and their supposedly exploding batteries.

Apparently, it’s okay to pass someone on a bike too close, as long as they’re riding a Penny Farthing on the streets of London.

A bike rider in Bristol, England says he’s fed up with a “pointless” bike lane, which is always blocked by drivers who find their desire for a convenient cup of coffee more important than his desire to stay alive.

Sadly, the tweet below is an all-too typical example of victim blaming, when watching the replay at the end makes it clear the bike rider was right hooked; thankfully, the victim escaped unscathed, even if his bike didn’t.

But sometimes, its the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Inconsiderate bikeshare users will be now be charged five times as much for dumping rental ebikes in central London — a whopping ten pounds, or $12.16 at current exchange rates.

Um, okay. A Dutch “traffic psychologist” blames Amsterdam’s “bicycle fetish” for traffic misconduct, describing it as a feeling of superiority that “my bike and I are completely in charge here.” A feeling I would love to have just once in my life.

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Local 

LAist recommends riding with People for Mobility Justice if you want to make friends on two wheels. And talks with honored PMJ volunteer and immigrant rights advocate Erick Huerta.

Nice move from South LA’s East Side Riders, who are marking their 16th anniversary by establishing an ebike lending library for residents of Watts, Willowbrook and Compton.

UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs takes justifiable pride in parking maester Donald Shoup being featured in discussions of parking reform in both the New York Times and the Congress for New Urbanism’s Public Square.

This is who we share the road with. A Pasadena man faces charges for repeatedly, and intentionally, ramming a woman’s car after rear-ending her at a red light; he was arrested after causing a disturbance at a nearby business.

A Santa Monica man faces hate crime and attempted murder charges for yelling racial slurs at a Black man who was just walking his dog, then attacking a Black man and woman with a pipe on an Expo Line platform, again shouting racial slurs, after fleeing the first scene on his bike when nearby firefighters intervened.

Work has finally begun on a long-planned beautification project on Front Street in San Pedro, including construction of a 22-foot wide multiuse path.

 

State

Caltrans announced a number of traffic safety projects in Orange County, including extending bike lanes through intersections in Huntington Beach.

The Orange County Register invites you to sign up for their new traffic and transportation email newsletter, The Road Ahead. Let’s just hope they take an expansive view of transportation, rather than just limiting it to the vroom, vroom crowd. 

Hats off to Carlsbad, which has narrowed traffic lanes on historic Highway 101, aka Carlsbad Blvd, reducing one section to just one lane to make room for a buffered bike lane, as well as marking areas where drivers and bike riders have to share the lane.

Five-time world champion triathlete Lesley Paterson co-wrote and executive produced the German movie All Quiet On The Western Front, which won four Oscars out of nine nominations, including best foreign language film; she wrote the script as she rode her bike around San Diego. I always did my best work while riding my bike, too. 

A Streetsblog op-ed accuses San Francisco officials of trying to fake their way to Vision Zero, citing the failure to slow speeding drivers and improve safety on the city’s Franklin Street.

That’s more like it. A first-term Oakland councilmember says she’s had it with the city’s dangerous streets.

 

National

CityLab suggests e-trikes are coming to the rescue of aging suburban Boomers, who quickly discover the roads aren’t as friendly for people on wide bikes as they are for drivers.

Bicycling says the Bicycle Film Festival is coming to your living room through the end of this month. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

MotorBiscuit raises the question of whether a bicyclist is a driver or pedestrian, saying bike riders exist in a weird gray area between the two. Which is exactly the problem, since people riding bikes are neither one, but traffic planners, engineers and government officials insist on forcing us into one camp or the other. 

Portland is considering an update to the city’s Freight Master Plan, including a proposal to use cargo bikes for last-mile deliveries.

Advocates in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown are pushing for construction of a “world class bike park” on the site of the former football stadium where I used to play in the marching band. And may have smuggled booze for the band inside my tuba.

This is who we share the road with. In a truly bizarre case, a Texas boy is dead, along with two horses, when a driver slammed into three teenaged rustlers riding stolen horses along a freeway.

Evidently, Los Angeles isn’t the only place with inconsiderate film crews, as Chicago bike advocates had to spring into action when the catering crew for Chicago Fire set up shop in a separated bike lane.

Chicago Magazine takes a ride down the city’s busiest, and most dangerous, bikeway, where 50 bike riders have been hit by cars, and three killed, in the last three years.

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor is proposing to more than double spending on recreational trails, raising funding from an average of $7 million to $18 million a year.

Illinois is considering an ebike rebate bill, with a focus on people who receive government assistance or earn less than 300% of the federal poverty level. Which is similar to plans for California’s ebike rebate program, if it ever actually happens.

Kindhearted community members pitched in to buy a $4,000 ebike for a 60-year old Bowling Green, Kentucky bike shop worker who rides his bike everywhere, due to a learning disability that prevents him from driving.

A Philadelphia man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the driveby shooting that killed a 16-year old boy who was just riding his bike home from a convenience store, in a case of mistaken identity.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. DC is replacing its flimsy plastic car-tickler bendy posts with concrete dividers to improve safety on separated bike lanes where drivers have just driven over the plastic bollards.

A Florida lawyer and bicyclist alleges that Miami-Dade County has done absolutely nothing to improve safety in the nine months after two bicyclists were killed riding along the city’s deadly Rickenbacker Causeway.

Police have charged an 86-year-old Clearwater, Florida man for the hit-and-run death of a 36-year old woman riding her bike. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive, and why officials insist on keeping elderly drivers on the road until it’s too late. 

 

International

Momentum Magazine says getting serious about active transportation in Europe means getting serious about eliminating street parking. The same would be true in this country, except eliminating street parking seems to be a nonstarter most places.

Momentum also considers the best ways to carry groceries on your bicycle.

A British Columbia writer says biking to work is her form of self-care, after becoming lethargic and irritable working from home.

A Toronto op-ed says the city’s residents are turning from cars to bicycles, which is reflected in a new condo development.

Scotland’s Endura bikewear manufacturer takes helmet design to the extreme by auctioning off four bike helmets imprinted with actual CAT scans of bicyclists who suffered life-threatening brain injuries, to benefit The Brain Charity in the UK. I’ll pass, thank you.

Cycling Weekly examines the phenomenon of middle-aged British men geeking out over vintage bikes. In my case, it’s just lusting after the classic bikes I couldn’t afford when I was younger. Then again, I can’t afford them now, either.

Brexit claimed another victim, as the UK distributor for bike brands including Tern Bicycles, Lake, Forme, ETC, Emmelle and MeThree has entered liquidation proceedings.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 74-year old driver walked without a day behind bars for killing 41-year old father as he rode his bike. But at least he won’t get his license back until he’s 81.

A 49-year old Irish woman embraced the single life as she rode her bicycle through six continents, describing herself as “just Bridget Jones on a bike.”

A Hong Kong man faces charges for stealing the bicycle of a Chinese influencer, which he had ridden through 32 Chinese provinces over the past three years.

Bike riders blame aggressive motorists as Australian bicycling injuries reach a record high.

 

Competitive Cycling

VeloNews says French cyclist David Gaudu is setting hearts aflame in his home country with hopes for the Tour de France, after finishing second to Tadej Pogačar in Paris-Nice.

No bias here. Cycling’s governing body showed its antagonism towards diabetics competing at the highest level by stripping Alaska’s Kristen Faulkner of her surprising third-place finish in the Strade Bianche Donne for wearing a continuous glucose monitor during the race.

Rouleur tells the “heartwarming” story of how French cyclist Romain Bardet’s old bike is carrying the dreams of Oman’s national champion, as he strives to race in Europe.

Bicycling reports Belgian road and track cyclist Lotte Kopecky will take part in this week’s Nokere Koerse race, despite the unexpected death of her 29-year old brother last week. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you. 

If you held the Strava KOM for Tenerife volcano Mount Teide, Remco Evenepoel  has some bad news for you.

Nothing like having a rogue motorist driving salmon on a supposedly closed bike race course during Sunday’s final stage of Paris-Nice.

 

Finally…

When you’re carrying meth and heroin on your bike, maybe don’t pop a wheelie in the middle of an intersection with the cops looking on. That feeling when you need a ebike that shares tech with the Mars Rover.

And fortunately, she said yes. Because it would have been very embarrassing to jump off a bike mid-race to propose, otherwise.

https://www.tiktok.com/@hanner.knapp/video/7202635612095024426?embed_source=121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_blank&refer=embed&referer_url=www.bikemag.com%2Ftrending-news%2Fcyclist-dream-proposal&referer_video_id=7202635612095024426

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Let me offer a special thanks to a longtime friend of this site, who made an unexpected donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way every day, which literally came in five minutes before an automatic payment would have bounced. 

As always, donations of any size, any time and for any reason are always welcome and very appreciated.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Gaimon says share this video when — not if — he gets killed, and putting risk from bikes in perspective

July 9, 2019 / / 5 comments

He gets it.

Then again, that shouldn’t come as any surprise.

In a must-watch video, former pro Phil Gaimon insists that we all get the story right when — not if — he gets killed by someone in a car.

He puts it this way in a video recently posted to his Worst Retirement Ever site.

Which is actually about the best worst retirement idea ever.

Make sure it says, ‘Some asshole was texting or going to fast and ran over Phil in his fucking car.’

Thank you.

Peter Flax offered a similar thought a few years ago, though perhaps not as amusingly.

Photo of Phil Gaimon rudely ripped from his website. Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.

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This kind of puts things in perspective.

Although I may have to pick my cadence up a tad.

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London’s alleged Westminster Bridge terrorist is on trial, accused of deliberately steering towards bicyclists and pedestrians in an attack that killed six innocent people and injured another 49.

Which serves as yet another reminder that LA’s Hollywood Blvd is completely unprotected from a similar attack.

A risk that could be virtually eliminated with a barrier-protected bike lane on both sides of the boulevard, and converting the street in front of Hollywood & Highland and the Chinese Theater into a pedestrian plaza.

Unless city officials would rather wait until it’s too late, as usual.

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Today’s common theme is e-scooters.

A Chicago bike rider is suing the city’s e-scooter providers in an attempt to find the hit-and-run scooter rider who left him lying unresponsive in the street.

A Nashville op-ed says banning e-scooters won’t fix the city’s problems, but building infrastructure for them will.

No bias here. A Brooklyn writer calls for restrictions on ebikes and e-scooters to improve safety for pedestrians and the elderly. Even though they face far more danger from people in motor vehicles.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.

A road raging English man faces jail time after he was convicted of harassing a 17-year old boy, forcing him off the road, then getting out of his SUV and punching the kid in the face — all for the crime of pulling ahead of him on his mountain bike at a red light.

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Local

Writing for CityWatch, a former LA city planner says the problem with the mayor’s plan to fight climate change is it’s not really a plan.

Metro Bike is celebrating its third birthday with an RSVP party in DTLA on July 30th.

The Órale Boyle Heights podcast talks with Areli Morales about her Oaxacan heritage, growing up in Venice, and her journey to becoming a bicycle and transportation advocate.

About damn time. Santa Monica approves plans for three miles of pathways that will separate bike riders from pedestrians along the beach. Now if we can just get Los Angeles and LA County to follow suit on their sections of the overly popular beachfront bike path.

 

State

The popular bike route through Camp Pendleton will be closed from July 15th through 19th as the Marines prepare to blow some shit up; riders will be allowed to use the shoulder of the 5 Freeway through the base, instead. Thanks to the OC Bike Coalition for the tip.

Bad news from San Diego, where a 27-year old BMX rider suffered a life-threatening brain injury after losing control on a descent.

One more reason to register your bike. Santa Cruz police are looking for the owner of a stolen Specialized mountain bike they recovered after busting a transient. But you have to be able to prove it’s yours.

Santa Clara County authorities have identified the 62-year old man who was killed in a San Jose hit-and-run while riding his bike last week; his alleged killer remains behind bars on $110,000 bail.

A San Francisco bike cop has made what friends call a miraculous recovery from a hit-and-run crash so bad paramedics initially thought he was dead, even if he’ll never return to his previous life; his near-killer is currently on trial for a lengthy list of felony charges.

 

National

Gear Patrol considers the best panniers for bike commuting.

A new online insurance plan promises to cover you for bicycling injuries or other adventure sports on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Which could come in handy, since just riding to work or school feels like an adventure sport in Los Angeles.

Forget rail-to-trail conversions; Colorado bike riders enjoy irrigation canals-to-trails.

Topeka KS plans to shut down its money-losing docked bikeshare, saying it came down to a choice between bikes and buses.

A Texas bike thief got busted thanks to a doorbell video cam.

That’s more like it. A Green Bay, Wisconsin man got ten years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider.

A New York website says the city’s Vision Zero is failing because the city has failed to reduce the number of car on the streets.

New York bike riders are mobilizing to deliver emergency aid in the event of a disaster.

A DC advocacy group says ripping out a bike lane to restore street parking is an unprecedented bad decision.

Amazon’s second HQ planned for the DC area promises to be bike and pedestrian friendly. Although if they really want to be bike friendly, bike racks are nice, but letting staffers take bicycles into their offices or cubicles is better.

This is why we can’t have nice things. A Shreveport, Louisiana vehicular cyclist says the city should rip out its bike lanes and stop building more, insisting they make bicycling more dangerous. And that he’s the only one, in the entire city, who rides safely by taking the traffic lane next to them, instead — no matter how much it pisses drivers and cops off.

Baton Rouge LA is finally getting safer and more convenient for people on bikes. And only three decades after I left. Seriously, it seems like the best way to ensure any city becomes bike friendly is for me to move away from it.

Police in Georgia haven’t made an arrest yet in a hit-and-run that left a woman riding in a bike lane with severe injuries, even though witnesses gave them the car’s license number.

 

International

An alleged bike-raging Toronto courier has been released on $1,000 bond for allegedly kicking a car, then whacking the driver with his bike lock after he got out of the car, in an assault partially caught on video.

Build it and they will come. London’s new network of protected bike lanes has led to more people on two wheels, resulting in a record 2.5 million bicycle trips a day.

No bias here, either. The Guardian’s Peter Walker says a new UK TV program entitled Cyclists: Scourge of the Streets? is every bit as bad as the title implies, calling it “undoubtedly the worst, most scaremongering, inaccurate, downright irresponsible program” on bicycling he’s ever seen, with “45 minutes of hatred, misinformation and outgrouping against people who just happen to sometimes use two wheels to get about.”

A stoned British hit-and-run driver gets a well-deserved eight years behind bars.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a special bicycle painted in the Tour de France colors that was going to be auctioned off for charity, as cycling stars Eddy Merckx and Peter Sagan demand its return.

Traffic-choked Paris is finally on track to become the bicycling capital envisioned by the city’s mayor. So maybe there’s hope for LA yet.

A young philanthropist in Sierra Leone is helping feed people in a region flooded by torrential rains, and working with a US-based charity to provide bicycles and riding lessons to people in need.

Seven more rides for your bike bucket list, as a Chinese website suggests seven breathtaking climbs throughout Asia.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Guardian offers a blow-by-blow account of yesterday’s third stage of the Tour de France, as the yellow jersey changed hands — or torsos, even — from the virtually unknown rider who led the first two stages.

Danish pro Kasper Asgreen ended his first Tour de France prematurely when he was hospitalized following a crash that broke his bike in half — yet somehow still managed to finish the stage anyway.

Speaking of Phil Gaimon, he’s evidently had an influence on the sport, as pro cyclist Taylor Wiles says she tries to eat right, but she’ll ride for cookies. And ice cream.

 

Finally…

Copenhagen is one of the world’s friendliest cities for bicycling; e-scooting under the influence, not so much. A protected bike lane without barriers is just a parking spot by a different name.

And if you’re going to use a gun in a road rage dispute, try not to shoot your own spouse.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Blocking motorized terrorist attacks, forcing drivers to bike, and sickening accusations from France

October 18, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Blocking motorized terrorist attacks, forcing drivers to bike, and sickening accusations from France

We’re not doing enough to fight terrorist attacks.

And much of what we’re doing is wrong.

That’s according to a paper prepared for a New York Vision Zero conference, which says cities have failed to respond to the threat of vehicular terrorist attacks in effective ways to protect the most vulnerable road users.

Cities have so far responded to this new threat in an ad-hoc manner. Many have begun to erect physical barriers between the walkers who define their urban spaces and the multi-ton vehicles whose drivers pose a growing threat.

But while some physical barriers are necessary, government officials need to create and adhere to core principles in protecting their residents, workers, and visitors. Anti-terror infrastructure should ease walking, biking, and public transit use, not impede it. The age of terror by car and truck is an additional challenge for urban planners who still haven’t quite answered a pre-existing question: In dense, historic historic cities with finite space, who gets access to the streets?

I’ve often argued that Los Angeles has failed to do anything to protect the tens of thousands of tourists who visit Hollywood Blvd every day, especially in the area around Hollywood & Highland and the Chinese Theater.

A situation that could be resolved almost overnight by installing a barrier-protected bike lane on Hollywood Blvd, along with a pedestrian plaza at Hollywood & Highland.

That would meet the goals spelled out in the paper by improving access for people on bikes and on foot, giving the streets back to the people while hardening them against terrorist actions.

Let’s hope someone finally listens before it’s too late.

Photo shows a typical summer crowd in front of Hollywood & Highland. And needlessly vulnerable to a vehicular terrorist attack due to the inaction of our elected leaders.

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A Prop 6 supporter says you need to vote to repeal California’s recent gas tax increase so she won’t be forced to ride a bike in her heels.

No, really.

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Just sickening.

Marc Sutton, the Welsh restauranteur who was shot and killed by a French hunter while mountain biking last Saturday, was a monster and a rapist.

That’s according to his own mother, who says she’s glad he’s dead.

He served six months behind bars for assaulting a former girlfriend, shattering her cheekbone and damaging her eye socket, while another woman claimed he had raped and beaten her around 100 times.

He is also accused of raping and physically abusing his own sister when she was a child.

His mother charged that Sutton fled to France after she and an alleged victim confronted him.

She told The Sun: “When I heard he had been killed I felt utter relief, it was a massive burden off my back. I was just relieved he couldn’t hurt us or anyone again.

“‘He deserved to be shot like an animal — he was the biggest animal there was.”

A former girlfriend said she had “cried with relief” at this death.

 

His father denies the charges, as does his last girlfriend, a partner in his restaurant, who called the allegations wicked lies.

She added: “His friends know the real Marc. The Marc I knew and loved was a kind, happy, loving man who would do anything for anyone.”

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Local

Three California cities lead the list of the crappiest roads in the US; surprisingly, Los Angeles only ranks third, behind San Francisco and San Jose. Which is just one more reason why Bicycling rated LA as America’s worst bike city. And one more reason to vote no on Prop 6.

Don’t forget the WeHo Bicycle Coalition is hosting a free panel discussion tonight with BikinginLA title sponsor Jim Pocrass, along with representatives of the sheriff’s department, CHP and the City of West Hollywood.

Santa Monica celebrates a Halloween-themed Kidical Mass on the 27th.

 

State

A new SafeTREC website urges California bicyclists and pedestrians to map out where you experience collisions, near misses and safety hazards, as well as where you feel safe traveling by foot, bicycle or scooter.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The Redlands hit-and-run victim we mentioned yesterday was a popular crossing guard credited with touching countless lives; rather than an e-scooter user, as we initially reported, he was actually a longtime moped rider.

Goleta unanimously approves a new bicycle and pedestrian master plan intended to increase the town’s 4% mode share for both bikes and pedestrians.

Sounds like fun. Bakersfield bike riders will enjoy a Halloween full moon ride next Tuesday. That’s almost worth making the long drive through the fog. Almost.

 

National

Cycling Tips talks with a Boulder CO man who refurbishes — and yes, rides — vintage mountain bikes.

An Idaho website calls for a speed limit on ebikes and scooters on the city’s bike path — and charging a license fee for all bikes and scooters to pay for enforcement.

A Dallas writer complains that the former bike-riding editor of the city’s alt weekly now seems to hate bikes, saying that Dallas will never become a city of bicycle commuters.

An Albany NY writer says after a year, he’s still using his bike as his primary means of transportation, although the quality of the road makes a big difference.

Curbed says bicycles are a small, but vital part of New York’s plans to cope with transportation after a subway line is shut down for over a year of maintenance work.

A bike rider says he loves DC, but sometimes, riding in the town sucks. Something most of us can probably relate to, wherever we ride.

No, those all white bikes decorated with bats and jack-o-lanterns and skeletons in a DC suburb aren’t ghost bikes. At least, not that kind.

 

International

Apparently NIMBYs aren’t just an American phenomenon. Calgary residents fought what ended up being a highly popular bike and pedestrian bridge by claiming that if they wanted beauty, they’d travel to Paris. That attitude could explain why Angelenos love to visit walkable cities overseas, but fight them in their own neighborhoods.

No bias here. A British county councilor says bicyclists are dangerous and selfish, and it’s only a matter of time before someone gets killed, as he announces plans to ban bikes from pedestrian areas; he also called delivery riders idiots.

Britain will now add instructions on the Dutch Reach to the country’s driving handbook.

A Dutch website looks at how the country’s status as the world’s leading bicycle nation impacts society.

Ride a thousand miles along the former Iron Curtain from Berlin to Budapest for the low, low price of “just” $8,318.

Bicycling is booming in the capital of Latvia, as riders complain the city hasn’t kept up with the safe infrastructure they were promised. Sounds familiar.

A Palestinian woman says the best way to explore Palestine is by bike, as she works to promote bicycling among women, and change age-old perceptions that they can’t ride bikes.

Jerusalem plans to triple the amount of bike lanes in the city in just five years. Which sounds impressive until you realize they only have 26 miles of bike lanes right now.

Tired of waiting for officials to take action, South African bike riders painted warnings on the streets to alert riders to broken pavement caused by tree roots.

A British teenager may have to give up on an attempt to become the youngest person to bike around the world following the theft of his bike and gear in Australia, after traveling 18,000 miles through 17 countries.

 

Competitive Cycling

VeloNews talks with Coors Classic mastermind Michael Aisner about how the race shaped the future of bike racing in the US. I was lucky enough to watch the amazing Coors Classic, and its predecessor the Red Zinger Classic, while growing up in Colorado.

Austrian pro Bernhard Eisel says he decided to retire three times as he recovered from surgery for a serious brain injury, before finally deciding to come back again next year.

Cycling Tips talks with the manager of Britain’s longest-running UCI cycling team, who calls it heartbreaking that the Continental level JLT-Condor team is closing down at the end of the year.

 

Finally…

Win the Nobel Prize, get your own bike rack. If you see proof of aliens on the moon, keep it to yourself — or don’t ride a bike years later.

And this is who we share the protected bike lane with.

………

I confess, I’ve been pretty out of it this week. So let me thank John L for his generous contribution to support this site. And apologize for not doing it sooner. 

If you’d like to help keep BikinginLA coming your way every day, you can donate through PayPal or by using the Zelle app on your phone. 

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Morning Links: City Atty says scrap Griffith Park Blvd bike lanes, and bike riders victim of London terrorist attack

August 15, 2018 / / 3 comments

LA City Attorney Mike Feuer has recommended removing the bike lanes on Griffith Park Blvd due to the crappy condition of the aging concrete pavement.

His recommendation comes after paying out a total of $700,000 following lawsuits from a pair of bike riders — only one of whom was actually injured on the section of Griffith Park that has bike lanes.

And even though it would increase the city’s liability the next time someone gets injured where the lanes used to be. Which is a given considering the condition of the street.

The obvious solution is to actually fix the crumbling pavement on Griffith Park, as the LA Bicycle Advisory Committee voted to recommend, which would solve the real problem.

That’s something we thought was in progress after the $200,000 settlement with Patrick Pascal, who was injured on the street beyond where the Griffith Park bike lanes end near Los Feliz Blvd, before they actually enter Griffith Park.

But they only fixed the section that took him down. And only after the city settled with him, despite countless calls to fix it prior to his injury.

Which is how it usually seems to work in the City of Angels.

In the photo, LA’s Bureau of Street Services repairs the section of pavement on Griffith Park Blvd where Patrick Pascal was injured. 

………

Once again, bike riders were the victims of a terrorist attack.

Last time it was New York, this time in London, where a man in his late 20s was arrested after driving into a group of bicyclists and pedestrians in what appeared to be a deliberate act.

Fortunately, no one was killed in the attack outside the British Houses of Parliament, though at least two people were injured, and a number of bikes mangled — a surprisingly good outcome considering the suspect drove an estimated 50 mph along the sidewalk for at least 130 feet.

And in typical British fashion, a bicyclist who chased the suspect until police intervened said “you just have a cup of tea and a biscuit and you carry on.”

………

Local

LAist offers a refresher on how to drive safely around kids headed back to school, including advice to watch for bicycles. And presumably, their riders. Speaking of which, remember that bike riders are required to stop for school buses, just like drivers, to avoid collisions with kids running across the road — or getting on or off the bus, if riders try to pass on the right. And yes, I’ve seen that.

The James Beard award-winning celebrity chef behind DTLA’s NoMad Hotel is one of us; Daniel Humm was a professional mountain biker before he won his first Michelin star at 24.

CD5 Councilmember Paul Koretz wrote a letter to the LA Times explaining his call for a temporary ban on e-scooters in the name of pedestrian safety, something he never seemed to give a damn about before. A Streetsblog reader kindly fixed it for him to focus on the real threat.

Lime and Bird scooters were shut down yesterday in Santa Monica in advance of a protest that reportedly drew hundreds to SaMo city hall to call for the e-scooter providers to be allowed to remain in the city; a proposal under consideration would boot both in favor of new scooters from Uber and Lyft. You have two more days to voice your opinion before the city cuts off the comment period.

 

State

Police data reveals the most dangerous intersections in Mountain View.

San Francisco’s Masonic Ave remains a work in progress as safety measures are unveiled by the city, with the city’s new mayor promising protected bike lanes are on the way.

Bay Area bike advocates are calling on San Francisco to lift the restrictive caps that are preventing bikeshare from growing in the city. Meanwhile, the city apparently has no idea what to do about e-scooters, which are banned in the City by the Bay until it figures it out.

A Eureka physician displays a remarkable amount of windshield bias, saying bike riders don’t need to use a particular bike path if the wind blows because there are several others, even it they don’t go the same way. And that there are no reproducible studies showing bicycling prolongs life, or that road diets work (hint: there are, on both counts). The remarkable thing is how he can still treat patients when he can’t seem to see past his own dashboard.

A group of bicyclists stop in Humboldt County on a ride from Seattle to San Diego to promote the Dream Act.

 

National

A post on Bike Portland says sidewalk cycling can be a savior for family biking.

Public tips led to the arrest of a Washington man who left a grandmother dying in a ditch next to her crumpled bicycle.

A Boise ID woman says a speeding, spandexed bicyclist sent her to the hospital to have a one-pound blood clot removed after crashing into her on a park pathway.

As we mentioned yesterday, the driver who killed two German bike tourist in Kansas earlier this year won’t face charges; the county attorney explains that it’s because she wasn’t under the influence or otherwise operating the vehicle in a reckless or dangerous manner. Although you’d think running over two people directly in front of you would be prima facie evidence of the latter.

Caught on video: Onboard cameras catch an Austin TX bus driver sideswiping a bicyclist — and nearly running him over — as he rode in a bike lane. It’s hard to watch, so be sure you really want to see it before clicking on the link. Thanks to Stephen Katz for the heads-up.

Two air conditioned teepees await bike tourists in an Arkansas city, as long as you’re willing to pay the price of a regular hotel room.

Chicago police double down on claims that a crackdown on bike riders in predominately black and Hispanic neighborhoods is an effective tool to prevent violence.

A New York councilmember responds to the death of a bike-riding Australian tourist by calling for a two-way protected bike lane on Central Park West. Meanwhile, a New York radio station asks listeners to imagine safer streets where bike riders are protected from things like that.

A Baltimore firefighter has been sentenced to one year probation after pleading guilty to an off-duty assault on a bike advocate at a community meeting to discuss bike lanes. At least we can be grateful that the bikelash over LA bike lanes haven’t turned violent. Yet.

A writer for the Washington Post tries, and fails, to understand the rights of bicyclists through his decidedly windshield perspective, before concluding that maybe bikes just don’t belong on the road.

 

International

A Canadian university professor says it’s odd that Toronto officials espouse the same 100-year old approach to bike and pedestrian safety that failed so spectacularly in the past.

The shooter who killed four people in Fredericton, New Brunswick last Friday is also one of us.

France’s first lady is one of us, too.

Now that’s bike friendly. A vote in Switzerland next month could enshrine bicycling in the nation’s constitution, committing the country to promoting bike transport and building suitable infrastructure.

An Indian website recommends riding a bike to pedal your blues away.

New Zealand police conclude that the truck that critically injured a champion triathlete doesn’t exist.

A Malaysian website says riding a bicycle is the healthiest form of urban transport.

 

Competitive Cycling

Santa Rosa native and defending Leadville 100 champ Larissa Connors arrives at this year’s race mourning the damage done to Trabuco Canyon by the devastating Holy Fire.

A writer for The Guardian complains that women’s cyclists will compete on a watered-down road course at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, saying it shows the Olympic motto of “faster, higher, stronger” only applies to men. Seriously, we should be long past the days when women were considered the weaker sex, especially in athletic competition.

Vincenzo Nibali says pro cycling has become a circus due to the aggressive behavior of racing fans, following his fan-caused crash in the Tour de France.

America’s most famous ex-Tour de France champ says he’ll do anything in his power to help former rival Jan Ullrich recover from his downward spiral.

 

Finally…

When your GPS may not have your best interests at heart. Evidently, there’s a backspace button for bike corrals.

And biking across the US is no joke, even for a former pro cyclist turned comedian.

And neither is fighting domestic abuse.

 

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Morning Links: Koretz proposes ban on e-scooters in Los Angeles, and keeping drivers on the road until it’s too late

August 1, 2018 / / 6 comments

In a move that probably shouldn’t have surprised anyone, LA’s self-proclaimed environmentalist councilmember has called for a temporary ban on dockless e-scooters.

Yes, Paul Koretz, the councilmember who singlehandedly blocked desperately needed bike lanes on Westwood Blvd — as well as on other major corridors throughout the Westside — has taken action to force people of their e-scooters and back into their cars, rather than allowing a viable first mile/last mile solution to take root.

This is the same councilman who has called for a Climate Emergency Mobilization Department. Yet can’t seem to see the logical disconnect in fighting alternative forms of transportation while paying lip service to climate change.

Then again, he doesn’t seem to see any problem with blocking increased density, either.

Evidently, he’s all for emergency action to address climate change, as long as it’s in someone else’s district.

Never mind that, as someone else pointed out, blocking bike lanes is just climate change denial in action.

Then there’s this disconnect, from the report by KFI radio.

“When we had a hearing in our Transportation Committee, at the time I had seen about three of them and I thought it wasn’t a big deal,” Koretz said. “I’ve probably seen a thousand since just on Beverly Boulevard where I live, and 100 percent have no helmet usage. … I’ve seen probably 20 go by with double on the scooter, which is very dangerous. On the commercial streets, everyone is illegally on the sidewalk.”

Which was followed by,

As for the public’s reaction, Koretz said he believed most residents want the scooters off the streets. He said his office has receive hundreds of complaints about them in recent weeks.

Yes, that is the scientific way to gauge public opinion, especially since people who support the scooters aren’t likely to call to say so without some compelling reason.

Like a stupid proposal to ban them, for instance.

And how is it that “hundreds of complaints” somehow outweighs thousands of users — by his own observation?

As for Koretz’ “better safe than sorry” concerns, there’s this from the Hollywood Reporter’s overview of the response, legal and otherwise, to e-scooters in the LA area.

Scooters have shown to pose safety hazards while operational and parked. According to injury attorney Catherine Lerer of L.A.’s McGee Lerer & Associates, who has written extensively about electric scooters, the top two seen in her office are people hurt when a scooter malfunctions — when a brake line is cut by disgruntled L.A. residents, for instance, or the scooter’s main post collapses — and pedestrians tripping over the scooters. “I’ve gotten calls from elderly people exiting businesses…people leave them right outside the front door,” Lerer notes.

Doesn’t exactly sound like a disaster in the making. Especially when one of the leading causes of injuries is sabotage by scooter-hating NIMBY terrorists.

The proposal was seconded by San Fernando Valley Councilmember Mitch Englander, who has also proposed a ban on dockless bikeshare until the city can work out a permitting process.

This follows the misguided bans on e-scooters in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills; the latter banning even riding bikeshare bikes or e-scooters through the city, which most likely violates state law.

Of course, this kind of hysteria about a new form of transportation is nothing new.

And something tells me Koretz would have been one of the first to call for a ban on bicycles had he lived in the 1890s. Although he probably would have been fine with the Model T chasing everyone else off the roads.

Of course, Los Angeles could take a more rational approach, like working with Lime and Bird to address any issues while they work the bugs out, as Culver City and Long Beach are doing.

But that would make too much sense.

Especially for an environmentalist who seems determined to keep Angelenos in their smog and greenhouse gas-belching cars.

https://twitter.com/LAMetroBlueLine/status/1024492126694866944

………

As long as we’re talking about e-scooters and dockless bikeshare, let’s look at a few more stories on the subject.

Curbed offers everything you need to know about renting e-scooters and dockless bikeshare in Los Angeles. While you still can, that is.

When a Portland-area website went fishing for complaints about e-scooters, what they got were complaints about cars.

And a St. Louis website gives Lime scooters a test ride, and comes back with 13 things they learned. Including that they’re fun as, well, you get the idea.

………

This is who we share the roads with.

Life is cheap in British Columbia, where a driver gets just 45 days behind bars for killing a van driver while speeding, tailgating and driving recklessly — despite receiving 40 tickets over the last 20 years.

And a Tuskegee University football player will never play the game again, after his leg was severed when a friend’s car he was helping to jump was hit by a driver with a “criminal history dating to 1989 (that) ‘shows a pattern of driving offenses and felony arrests.'”

Just two more examples of authorities keeping dangerous drivers on the road until it’s too late.

………

More on the American couple killed in a terrorist attack in Tajikistan on Sunday, who had quit their jobs to bike around the world.

The couple from Washington, DC had written about their trip on a blog that sadly will never be finished.

And authorities blamed the attack on members of the blacklisted Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan.

………

Local

As we noted last week, fresh green bike lanes are finally going down on Santa Monica Blvd in the former Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills, which had fought the lanes for nearly a decade before surprisingly embracing them last year.

Today Santa Clarita sheriff’s deputies will step up enforcement of traffic violations that put bicyclists and pedestrians at risk, regardless of who commits them. So ride to the letter of the law until you leave their jurisdiction.

 

State

A Cambrian man accidentally became the first bike rider to travel Highway 1 in Big Sur after it reopened last month.

San Francisco approves plans for a curb-protected bike lane the promises to be the safest in the city.

Sad news from Del Norte County, where the CHP is looking for a hit-and-run driver who killed a woman as she rode her bike; the victim wasn’t carrying ID and still hasn’t been identified. One more reminder to always carry some form of identification when you ride; I never leave home without my RoadID, which doubles as a medic alert bracelet.

 

National

A writer for Forbes says cities must take advantage of the opportunities presented by bikeshare.

Bloomberg says Uber and Lyft may not be the solution to traffic congestion, but they’re probably not the cause, either.

Bicycling profiles BMX star Nigel Sylvester, saying the “rebellious superstar is breaking all the rules,” and doesn’t need your permission, thank you.

A writer for Fox News blames “big-spending liberals” for pushing Seattle bike lane and streetcar projects that have been plagued with cost overruns.

A Washington writer gets a detailed education in why many bicyclists prefer to ride on the highway, when there’s a perfectly good bike path nearby. Which should be required reading for planners before they’re allowed to design any offroad path.

Evidently, Los Angeles isn’t the only city where councilmembers have the power to block bike lanes. A Chicago bike rider was killed when he was doored on a street that was supposed to have a protected bike lane, which was halted by the local alderman.

After Ofo pulled out of White Plains NY, they donated over 100 bike for use by low income families.

An Albany NY TV station raises concerns about the structural integrity of an old railroad bridge that now used by over “200,000 bike riders, joggers and dog walkers” every year.

Charlotte NC is planning its first two-way, protected cycle track.

 

International

Curbed looks at 14 gorgeous carfree cities around the world. Anyone one of which I’m just about ready to move to. Although bike riding on the Venice canals might be a bit of a challenge.

No surprise here, as a study shows the noxious fumes in London’s air disappeared during the annual carfree Ride London event.

A British lawyer who calls himself Mr. Loophole suggests revising the country’s traffic laws, including requiring all bike riders to pass a proficiency test, and have their bicycles inspected annually for safety violations (aka an MoT, or Ministry of Transport exam).

Talk about lessons not learned. Bike Biz reprints a speech in the British parliament that calls for a revival of bicycling in the national interest — which was given sixty years ago. And clearly not acted on.

Egyptians are being encouraged to leave their cars behind in an effort to spread bicycle culture throughout the country.

Shimano has apparently overcome the losses from the factory fire in Japan earlier this year, with sales up 6.8%.

 

Competitive Cycling

Forbes calls bicycle racing the best sport to combine spectating and active participation.

A French newspaper calls for a budget cap for pro cycling teams following Team Sky’s dominating performance in the Tour de France; the president of cycling’s governing body calls for limiting teams to a maximum of six riders instead.

After successful surgery to repair a fractured vertebrae suffered during the Tour, Vincenzo Nibali hopes to return in time for the Vuelta a España later this month.

VeloNews talks with a sports psychologist about whether the abuse Team Sky riders suffered from fans during the Tour had any effect. Apparently not, since they led most of the way and placed two riders on the podium; cutting back on salbutamol probably had a bigger effect on Chris Froome.

Speaking of VeloNews, the magazine also talks with the head of the Dimension Data team about his efforts to build an African team; while several African riders have competed on the WorldTour with the team, no black African has yet won a stage at the highest levels.

And completing our VeloNews trilogy, the magazine offers a beautiful photo essay of the Tour de France from the Pyrenees to Paris.

A 60-year old Australian woman won the masters mountain bike world championships just one day after suffering a major crash.

 

Finally…

Evidently, the more bikes change, the more they look the same. Doing the Tour de France without a bicycle.

And sometimes, doing the right thing gets rewarded.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Sympathy for fallen LADOT Traffic Officer, and terrorist attack kills bike tourists in Tajikistan

July 31, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Sympathy for fallen LADOT Traffic Officer, and terrorist attack kills bike tourists in Tajikistan

As bike riders, we don’t hesitate to criticize LADOT when its called for.

But let’s take a moment to offer the the city’s Department of Transportation our sympathy and prayers on the death last week of LADOT Traffic Officer Gregory Park, who became collateral damage in a traffic collision as he was writing a parking ticket in Van Nuys.

I hope you’ll join me in sending our condolences to his family, friends and co-workers.

And remember that we’re not the only ones at risk on the streets.

………

Yesterday we mentioned two American bike tourists who killed in Tajikistan, along with riders from Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Today we learned that the four were victims of a terrorist attack, as Islamic State claimed credit for the killings. They were run down with a car, then attacked with knives.

Three others in the group were wounded.

Authorities later killed two suspects and arrested three others, as well as recovering a car that may have been used in the attack. Another three suspects were “rendered harmless,” though it was unclear what was meant by that.

Although I’m sure we can guess.

Thanks to Richard Risemberg for the heads-up.

………

Hats off to new LA Laker LeBron James for opening a new Akron, Ohio school for at-risk kids.

The goal is to help kids who are lagging behind in school and struggling at home with accelerated learning and help combating difficulties outside of the classroom.

But here’s the best part.

LeBron James often credits his bicycle as a huge factor in his childhood that gave him an escape from dangerous parts of his neighborhood and the freedom to explore — every student will receive a bicycle when they arrive.

I’ve never been a big basketball fan, but I’m starting to like this guy.

………

Local

The LACBC’s monthly Sunday Funday bike ride will explore South LA and the Watts Towers this Sunday.

Santa Monica approved a $5 million plan to quintuple the amount of green bike lanes in the city, as well as providing more secure bike parking and video bike recognition systems at red lights.

 

State

Wheel Tales is offering three community bike adventures, including four day rides along California’s Central Coast or a Santa Cruz Challenge.

Charles Hudak sends word that Ofo is not leaving Southern California, let alone the US, despite emails to that effect that went out Friday in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Speaking of San Diego, it’s less than a month away from Bike the Bay, your once-a-year chance to ride the city’s iconic San Diego Coronado Bay Bridge and cruise around the San Diego Bay.

Video shows a bike rider nearly run down on the Bay Area’s Mt. Diablo, as a tour bus drifts onto the wrong side of the road as the rider approaches.

Deontae Bush, the bike rider killed in an Oakland collision Friday night, was just pushing off from the curb after giving a woman money for bus fare when he was struck and killed.

 

National

Oh, hell no. A new bill in Congress would tax transit agencies, bicycle tires and ebike batteries to pay for the growing Highway Fund deficit instead of raising the gas tax, which hasn’t been increased since 1993. In other words, they want bike riders and transit users to subsidize drivers even more than we already do.

Bloomberg says Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods will make virtually every bicycle sold in the US more expensive, at a time when local bike shops are already struggling to survive.

Pacific Standard talks with Adonia Lugo about building a more inclusive bike advocacy movement.

Good piece, as CNN’s Wisdom Project considers the mindfulness and zen of bicycling. I’ve long considered bike riding a form of moving meditation.

An economist riding across the US concludes that bicycling is the third most dangerous sport, no matter how you calculate it.

Police in Houston release new video of the suspect in the fatal shooting of famed cardiologist Dr. Mark Hausknecht as he rode his bike to work.

No bias here. After a Tulsa bicyclist was killed and another rider injured when they were run down by a pickup driver, a local TV station blames the confusing bike lanes that they weren’t using, which aren’t on the street they were riding on.

Last week’s Chicago Critical Mass ended in front of city’s police headquarters to protest the department’s policy of zero-tolerance bike enforcement in black and brown communities.

Bicycling to Rhode Island’s famed Newport Folk Festival reached an all-time high, as over 1,800 people left their cars at home each day to rode to the festival.

New York could have a black, bike-riding mayor in three years if the Brooklyn borough president has his way.

Gothamist says private cars are increasingly pointless as e-moped sharing comes to New York. Meanwhile, dockless ped-assist e-bikesharing is unveiled in the Big Apple, which just legalized such lower-speed ebikes.

A Florida letter writer complains about all those inconsiderate bicyclists who park their cars at the beach to ride their bikes, as opposed to all those very considerate drivers who park at the beach to just go to the beach.

 

International

A new campaign is underway to get bicycle mayors appointed for over 100 cities around the world by 2020. Although the Los Angeles bicycle mayor would probably be too busy running for bicycle president to actually get anything done.

Caught on video: A clumsy Montreal thief dismantles a traffic sign to steal a bicycle, prompting the mayor to call for more bike parking. And this is why you never lock your bike to a sign post.

A new Toronto app allows riders to report problems with bike parking, including the need for more. Meanwhile, a new survey shows 80% of Toronto residents support building protected bike lanes, including 75% of drivers. Thanks to Norm Bradwell for the link.

As we mentioned last week, London’s new Vision Zero plan would eliminate traffic deaths by 2041. They might actually succeed, after cutting traffic fatalities nearly 50% in just the last ten years, and with an actual plan to get them the rest of the way.

After a British woman was knocked unconscious in a crash with another bicyclist, she woke up unable to remember how to speak English.

A driver in the UK gets eight years for a drunken hit-and-run that took the life of a local chef as he biked home.

Great Britain is looking for ideas on how e-cargo bikes and electric transport vans can make more last mile deliveries.

Celebrate Geraint Thomas’ victory in the Tour de France with five of the best bicycling routes in Wales.

According to a Swiss study, riding an ebike less than four miles a day, at least three times a week for four weeks, is enough to start getting back into shape. Meanwhile, a writer for Bike Radar says like it or not, ebikes are here to stay, and that’s a good thing.

Korea will mandate the use of bike helmets at the end of September, though hygiene-wary bicyclists question the wisdom of shared helmets for bikeshare.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Magazine recounts five OMG moments from the Tour de France. Four of which are exactly the ones I’d list.

Cycling Weekly goes back to last winter to examine how Geraint Thomas won the Tour, while a Welsh columnist says maybe Thomas should run for first minister of Wales.

Nice piece from NPR about Texan Lawson Craddock’s last place finish in the Tour de France, riding almost all 2,082 miles with a broken shoulder blade. Needless to say, it was not easy on his mom.

In a sign of the times, officials examined bikes for motor doping over 3,000 times during the three week tour.

Ethiopian cyclist Tsgabu Grmay’s determination and thick skin has made him a two-time competitor in the Tour de France.

A writer for VeloNews decides to enter the Leadville 100 race on a mountain bike as old as he is.

Writing in Bicycling, a former racer recounts the broken promise that cost him the 2001 U-23 championship, which had haunted him ever since.

 

Finally…

Biking home after too many biers could get you a big fine. Apparently, asking a cop why he’s pulling over bicyclists on a charity ride can also get expensive.

And Cincinnati unexpectedly gets the Bird.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Dockless bikeshare isn’t here yet, more on NYC bike path attack, and goodbye LAist

November 3, 2017 / / 2 comments

For a moment, it looked like dockless bikeshare had arrived in LA.

Even if it’s not entirely legal yet.

Marc, aka @mcas_LA, tweeted a pair of photos showing a fleet of LimeBikes in the Jewelry District in DTLA, even though the proposed ordinance to legalize dockless bikeshare hadn’t made it through the city council yet.

Alas, it was not to be.

Not yet, anyway.

LimeBike was quick to respond that the bikes were being test-ridden by their employees at a private event, and that they would never launch Uber-style without waiting for the proper permits.

So you’ll just have to wait awhile longer.

………

New York is responding to Tuesday’s terrorist attack by installing K-rail barriers at 57 intersections, including the one that Sayfullo Saipov used to drive onto the bike path.

A bill in the US Senate would provide $50 million a year to install bollards, planters and other barriers along bikeways to protect cyclists. Get back to me when they get serious; $50 million works out to a token gesture of just $1 million per state.

A student injured when Saipov’s rented truck crashed into a school attended class on Wednesday to keep his record for perfect attendance.

A writer for Opposing Views considers what the attack says about bike safety.

In an Op-Ed in the Washington Post, Eben Weiss, aka Bike Snob, writes that a terrorist attack isn’t going to scare bicyclists off their bikes because we already have to deal with motorists.

And it hasn’t stopped them, as New Yorkers flocked to the pathway when it reopened yesterday.

………

You can kiss LAist goodbye. The billionaire publisher of the “ist” and DNAinfo sites pulled the plug on the entire network yesterday, taking down all the archives at the same time.

The site had regularly written about bike issues, and been a supporter of safer streets in Los Angeles, and other cities around the world.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the closure came after employees had voted to unionize.

………

Local

Streeetsblog’s Joe Linton and Damien Newton correct the pernicious lie that Mike Bonin somehow stole money from the Measure M transportation tax to fund Vision Zero.

The LACBC’s Operation Firefly kicks off in Van Nuys next week, providing lights to bike riders who don’t have them.

The Pasadena Star-News asks if new trains, busways and bike lanes can end SoCal gridlock. Short answer, no. With more people bringing more cars here every year, our street will continue to be clogged. The only solution is to provide alternatives to driving, so the people who choose to leave their cars at home won’t be stuck in that mess.

Authorities are looking for funding to build a roundabout at the intersection of Highway 39 and the Old San Gabriel Canyon Road above Azusa to slow traffic and provide a safe extension to the San Gabriel River Trail, which currently dead ends at the roadway.

Helen’s Cycles is holding a trio of rides this weekend, while Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare celebrates its second anniversary on Saturday. And CicLAvia hosts their 2nd Annual pLAy Day in LA fundraiser on Sunday.

 

State

Nice piece in the LA Daily News about the recently completed, 450-mile Challenge Ride from San Francisco for wounded vets, including a former four-star Army Chief of Staff helping an injured ex-private up a hill.

The owner of a Coronado bike rental company opposes a proposal to allow LimeBike to operate on the island.

Bakersfield has received $200,000 in funding from Kern County for a number of bike-related projects, including bike parking in the downtown area, and the Build-A-Bike program that allows kids to earn a bicycle while learning about bike maintenance and repair.

San Luis Obispo is moving forward with plans for 50 new bicycling facilities, including buffered bike lanes and a bike boulevard, to fundamentally change the way people in the community get around.

Kindhearted Visalia residents pitched in to buy a new ebike for a legally blind teenager after the one he got for his 16th birthday was stolen.

A San Jose columnist says a planned bike and pedestrian bridge is a key link to improve safety, even if a letter writer considers it a waste of money.

A San Francisco man was critically injured when a bike rider opened fire on the victim following an argument; the suspect was arrested nearby.

San Francisco protesters create a people-protected bike lane on the Embarcadero to call attention to the need for greater safety.

 

National

People for Bikes offers four reasons why businesses should embrace ebikes.

A Seattle magazine says it’s good that dockless bikeshare bikes are being abandoned in trees, because it removes the moral superiority of bicycling, and makes it seem like it an everyday activity. Which it already is.

Over 8,000 people are expected to attend Denver’s one-day VeloSwap bike swap meet and expo this weekend.

A Dallas columnist says relax, and give dockless bikeshare time to work itself out.

Former cyclist Sinead Miller is now working with Nashville’s Vanderbilt University to put an end to sepsis, after ending her pro career when she suffered a traumatic brain injury in a collision.

A driver tried to run over a group of Miami police officers on a weekly community ride, and apparently got away.

 

International

An Op-Ed in Canadian Cyclist Magazine calls out the special status of drivers, and says laws that make a cyclist’s life cheap have to be changed.

Glasgow’s Philippa York says she would have gladly given up the fame that came with her cycling career as the former Robert Millar in order to transition to a woman when she was younger.

 

Finally…

Oprah is one of us, even if one of her favorite things looks suspiciously like a ghost bike. And evidently, the painkiller Tramadol will make you faster.

Even if it has the opposite effect on me.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: 2nd edition of popular SoCal bicycling guide, and more details on NYC bike path terrorist attack

November 2, 2017 / / 3 comments

Let’s start with an updated version of a popular SoCal bicycling guidebook.

This is how the publisher describes it.

Good news for SoCal cyclists who prefer riding on bike trails and low-traffic bike routes: Richard Fox has published a thoroughly updated 2nd Edition of his popular colorful 400-page guidebook, “enCYCLEpedia Southern California – The Best Easy Scenic Bike Rides.”  It showcases over 200 fun ride options from Cambria to San Diego to Palm Springs.  Ride descriptions have detailed turn by turn instructions accompanied by stylized scaled maps depicting paved vs dirt bike trails and on-road bike routes.  A typical ride is 10-20 miles long with beautiful scenery, few hills, little or no auto traffic, and lots of interesting things to see or places to eat en route. Options to extend or combine rides are described. Now available from available from Amazon or direct from the author for $21.95.

A sample page from the book

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More on Tuesday’s terrorist attack on a New York City bike path.

An Argentine school honored five of the victims, who graduated in the same class of 1987; another of their schoolmates, now working as a scientist in Boston, was injured in the attack. Video shows them happy and smiling as they rode through New York before the attack.

Several of the victims appeared to be riding rental bikes from the New York branch of a San Francisco company.

The New York Times looks at the people caught in the driver’s path, while the Washington Post profiles one of the two Americans and a Belgian mother of two who were killed.

A New York cop is called a hero for stopping the attack by shooting the suspect, who now faces terrorism charges.

Not all the victims were on the bike path; one of the two kids in the school bus the driver crashed into remains in critical condition.

The New York Times says the attack exposed the vulnerable street crossings on the bike path; bike advocates have called for better protection for the bike path for more than a decade.

Fast Company says safe streets that shield bicyclists and pedestrians from motor vehicles are the best protection against future attacks. The attack prompted calls for improved safety for bike paths in Chattanooga, Boston and Santa Maria.

But it didn’t stop New Yorkers from returning to the path the next day. And the head of a New York bike advocacy group says we’ll never stop biking.

………

Peter Flax complains about the recent Shanghai Skoda Criterium, saying fake bike races don’t belong in professional cycling.

The Bicycling Hall of Fame announces four new members.

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Local

LA’s Vision Zero plan is expected to bring protected bike lanes and safer street crossings to the area around USC, where 21 people were killed in crashes between 2014 and 2016. Unless any drivers object to it, of course.

Starchitect Frank Gehry says the long-promised transformation of the LA River will never happen. Which is odd, since he’s the one the mayor put in charge of designing it.

More Selena Gomez bike photos, as she goes riding in LA with the Bieb.

CiclaValley revisits the site of the La Tuna fire.

Cost estimates have nearly doubled for a 2.8-mile extension of the Whittier Greenway Trail due to required improvements at railway crossings; the project is still moving forward despite the $15.7 million price tag.

 

State

The California legislature will consider a bill that could legalize part of the Idaho Stop law next year; AB1103 would allow bike riders to treat stop signs as yields, but maintain the requirement to wait for red lights.

A transient man in San Diego stabbed another man who tried to steal his bicycle.

San Diego plans a Day of Service to honor fallen bike rider Maruta Gardner, who was killed by a drunk driver as she was painting over graffiti in Mission Beach last year.

A Marin cyclist was locked up and had his bike confiscated for skitching behind a big rig on the 101 Highway.

 

National

NACTO has developed guidelines for when a protected bike lane should be installed. Which pretty much mandates one for most of Los Angeles.

A Portland musician and bike messenger was found dead in a park after apparently falling off his bike and hitting his head.

The man who recovered JujJu Smith-Schuster’s stolen bike wants the Pittsburgh Steelers tickets that were promised as a reward.

Residents of a Massachusetts town demand the city respond to complaints about “bicycle bullies.”

A day after the New York terrorist attack, a New York woman was shot in the stomach as she was docking her bikeshare bike; her attacker apparently shot himself afterwards.

A DC advocacy site suggests five street signs that point to a failed street design.

A Georgia woman has been convicted of two vehicular homicide counts, as well as seven counts of inflicting serious injury with a vehicle, DUI and endangering a child after swerving onto the wrong side of the road and hitting a group of bike riders head-on; she had meth and several other drugs in her system and was reaching for her cellphone at the time of the crash.

 

International

Someone hung a banner over a Montreal overpass accusing the city of too much talk and not enough action, while urging viewers to Bike the Vote en français.

Writing in The BMJ — formerly the British Medical Journal — a Scottish physician says restricting bicycling in response to the death of a single pedestrian would cause needless harm to public health. Case in point, a new Danish study shows bicycling to work is as good for losing weight as working out at a gym five days a week.

Caught on video: A Scottish bike rider and a driver engage in an expletive-filled spat after the former complains about the latter talking on his phone while he drives.

There’s a special place in hell for the British men who crashed their van into a pair of boys who were sharing a bicycle, then jumped out and stole it.

Amsterdam has banned beer bikes after complaints about rowdy drunken tourists.

Dutch bicyclists complain that they can’t find a place to park their bikes at busy train stations.

Tel Aviv, Israel begins enforcement of a partial sidewalk bike ban.

A road raging Russian bike rider faces 15 years behind bars for the murder of a careless driver who nearly ran him down. Another example of what can happen if you let your anger get the better of you. Just shake it off and ride away.

 

Finally…

The best way to win a bake off is to train by winning a few track cycling championships. Your next bike could be a 13 pound Aston Martin.

And who doesn’t need a bike built to survive a fall of a cliff.

Even if you don’t.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Dennis Hindman found safe, terrorist attacks bike riders in New York, and Bruins joins Bonin’s staff

November 1, 2017 / / 5 comments

Let’s start with the good news.

According to his sister, longtime LA bike advocate Dennis Hindman has been found safe in a San Gabriel hospital after being missing for two months.

Apparently, the Toluca Lake resident has been in the hospital for the entire time he’s been missing.

No word on Hindman’s condition yet, or why his relatives were never notified.

However, a hospital stay of that duration is never a good sign; let’s keep him in our thoughts and prayers until we have more information.

………

This time, it was us.

At least eight people were killed when a terrorist claiming an allegiance with ISIS drove 20 blocks down a New York bike path, leaving crumpled bikes and bodies in his path.

At least eleven others were injured.

Five of those killed were Argentine tourists who were visiting the city to celebrate their 30th high school reunion. One of the dead, and three of the people injured, were from Belgium.

The killer was shot by police after crashing his rental truck and exiting waving pellet and paintball guns; at last report he was hospitalized in grave condition after undergoing surgery.

The 29-year old native of Uzbekistan has been a legal resident of the US since 2010; he would have been unaffected by the recent travel bans.

The Associated Press lists other attacks where vehicles have been used as weapons.

Thanks to John Dammann for the heads-up.

………

Congratulations to former LACBC Planning and Policy Director Eric Bruins, who is joining CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin’s staff as Transportation Policy Director, replacing longtime aide Paul Backstrom.

Or maybe we should offer our congratulations to Bonin for landing him. And to the people of CD11 for the exceptional hard work and dedication they’re about to receive.

Let’s hope they have the good sense to appreciate it.

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Nothing like rounding a corner in San Clemente, and nearly getting hit head-on by a driver on the wrong side of the road.

Although that little honk from the scofflaw motorist was a nice touch.

Credit Eric Fleetwood for the video, and thanks to David Drexler for forwarding it.

………

There may be a lot of cyclists looking for work soon, as UCI’s new president calls for reducing the size of pro cycling teams to just six riders, after next year’s reduction to eight.

And former LA pro Phil Gaimon offers the latest in his Worst Retirement Ever series, as he tackles Colorado’s legendary Mt. Evans Hillclimb, the highest paved road in North America.

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Local

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Susanna Schick, who writes about Move LA’s efforts to keep the city moving, while noting that every time she’s tried to push back against traffic, the cars push back harder.

Selena Gomez is one of us, as she stops to talk with fans while riding her bike in Studio City.

Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare celebrates its second birthday with a day of free rides this Saturday.

Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson writes movingly about his friend Rob Dollar, who was killed by an allegedly drunk and stoned teenage driver while riding outside of Phoenix on Sunday.

Long Beach’s Beach Streets wants to know what you thought about this past weekend’s open streets event in the city.

 

State

California’s new twelve cent gas tax increase will kick in today.

San Juan Capistrano will widen Del Obispo Street to remove a bottleneck, adding a lane in each direction, along with bike lanes on either side.

Orange County will begin restricting access to the Santa Ana River Trail in order to control the homeless camps that have sprung up along the trail; starting today the path will be closed from 6 pm to 7 am through the end of February, then 9 pm to 7 am until next October 31st.

San Diego’s city council makes the tough choice to remove parking to make room for bike lanes on University Avenue as part of the city’s Vision Zero program, reducing a gap in the city’s bike network. Meanwhile, the city approved a new connector road that will split existing neighborhoods, which would help complete a regional bike network, even though they’ve failed to track whether they’re meeting ambitious bicycling and transit goals to reduce greenhouse gasses.

An Arroyo Grande man says bike riders aren’t paying the “overinflated vehicle registration fees” car owners do, and suggests an annual $75 fee to ride a bike on the road. Never mind that bikes cause virtually no wear and tear on the road. Or that most bike riders already pay those same vehicle registration fees for one or more motor vehicles.

A middle-aged man was shot in the face while riding his bike near a San Jose light rail station. Thanks to Lynn Ingram for the link.

San Francisco police are looking for a pair of brutal bike-riding San Francisco hat thieves.

 

National

A TV website lists ten things you probably didn’t know about American Flyers.

NACTO says a future of autonomous cars calls for a transportation blueprint that puts people first.

Forbes asks if private dockless bikeshare will become a fixture on college campuses.

Lil Kim is sort of one of us, too, as she teaches her three-year old daughter how to ride a bike.

The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for Colorado’s bike-riding bank robber, the Sneaky Cyclist Bandit. No word on what makes him so sneaky, though.

No bias here. A Denver TV station says the city’s efforts to become more bike-friendly may have hit a snag, because drivers don’t like a new sidewalk, calling it twice as wide as it needs to be.

A Dallas writer says the city can’t handle dockless bikeshare, where abandoned bikes are littering the sidewalks.

Chicago cab drivers are no longer required to drop passengers off at the curb, reducing their liability if someone doors a bicyclist.

Minneapolis has a bicycle-riding, unicorn-costumed candidate for mayor. Maybe Garcetti should consider that approach if he runs for president in 2020.

A Detroit bike co-op gave a new bike to a man with undisclosed medical problems, after the bike he used as his only form of transportation was stolen when he stopped to rest for a few minutes.

A Louisville KY bicyclist declares victory after authorities dropped charges of running a red light and obstructing traffic for not riding in a bike lane; he had claimed there was debris in the bike lane that could have given him a flat.

A New York bus driver was charged with a misdemeanor for the death of a bike rider last year, the first bikeshare rider killed in the city. But at least the driver honked before running him over.

 

International

You can now own your very own $815,000 cycling watch, which comes complete with a limited edition Colnago bike. For that price, it should also come with your own private bikeway to ride it on.

A bike-raging Toronto bike rider gets 18 months probation for an incident caught on video last August, in which a taxi driver intentionally turned into him after he had repeatedly slapped the cab and reached inside for the keys.

A road-raging London driver gets two years for intentionally running over a bike rider, breaking his back — then getting out of his car and telling the injured rider he’d run over him again if he had to.

Apparently they take repeated DUIs seriously in the UK, at least if you kill someone. A woman with three previous drunk driving arrests got eight years for the death of 17-year BMX rider after downing three pints of beer.

Caught on video: A British bicyclist confronts a motorist for driving on the sidewalk to get around a traffic diversion, who was none too happy about it.

 

Finally…

Seriously, don’t shoot your gun in the air while riding stoned, especially with a previous felony conviction. Your next ebike could run on hydrogen.

And you can now ride your bike through Graceland.

No, not that Graceland.

……..

Thank you to Alice Strong for her very generous donation to help support this site; you can make a donation anytime to help keep SoCal’s best bike news coming your way every day using the PayPal link.

 

Category: Health, Morning Links, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , , , ,
 
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