The story of his death is also beginning to change, as witnesses claim the driver was out of control, and rumble strips in the center of the roadway make it unlikely that Cortez would have been riding on the wrong side of the road, as initial reports claimed.
We’re just 6 days away from Active Streets: Mission at Twilight—a day to come together and move through our streets in community. Join us to walk, roll, and ride through miles of open streets. Bring water, sunscreen, and a friend, and let’s share this time together this Sunday. pic.twitter.com/txsNObuUcU
A London council is accused of installing “prohibitive, discriminatory” barriers on a steep ramp at the exit of a park in order to stop possibly nonexistent speeding bicyclists, forcing people with disabilities and families in cargo bikes onto a busy road with no bike lane, while ignoring a January compromise agreement.
A motor vehicle once again became a weapon of mass destruction when the 87-year old driver of a motorhome slammed into a group of four Swiss bicyclists in Cher, France, killing two people in their 60s and critically injuring a third. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive — especially a vehicle that can weigh seven tons or more.
April 7, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Smilianska guilty in death of US National Team’s Magnus White, and hit-and-run driver posted online looking for killer
Day 97 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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About damn time.
For the first time in four full weeks, my wife and I both finally tested negative for Covid over the weekend.
But I still missed yesterday’s Hollywood Meets Koreatown CicLAvia, as my diabetic body just doesn’t bounce back that fast anymore, and even just walking part of the route seemed like more than I could manage.
So feel free to let me know how it went.
And in other health news, I’m now on yet another medication that affects my balance, making my goal of finally getting back on my bike seem even more unlikely.
Maybe I can find an ebike with a built-in gyroscope to keep me upright.
Prosecutors showed evidence that Smilianska had partied with a co-worker the night before, despite both denying they had been drinking. They also posted a text Smilianska reportedly sent a friend admitting she was drunk at the time of the crash.
This is who we share the roads — and social media — with.
After a Tennessee man was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike, a 25-year old woman posted on Facebook to say how much the victim would be missed, and begging anyone who knew anything about the crash to come forward, adding that she couldn’t imagine leaving someone on the road to die alone.
You can probably guess what comes next.
Just hours after sharing her last post, she was arrested for the fatal hit-and-run, admitting she was drinking before the crash and drove to another county to get her car fixed in an effort to coverup the crime.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps going on.
No bias here, either. A sign warns bicyclists using a Dublin bike lane to slow down for school children, posting that the village isn’t a racetrack. Yet no similar sign warns the people in the big, dangerous machines, who are more likely to treat the road like a racetrack, and can cause far more harm when they do.
Caltrans has once again delayed a decision on removing the protected bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, as they attempt to strike a balance between the needs of motorists and cyclists. Or rather, whether people in cars will get every lane on both levels of the two-lane bridge, or if bike riders can continue to hold on to one measly little lane.
Hats off to the Sausalito Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, after every member of the committee resigned in protest because the city rejected a half-million grant to build bike lanes on its main thoroughfare.
Marin County has taken the “unprecedented” step of banning kids under 16 from riding throttle-controlled Class 2 ebikes, as well as requiring anyone of any age riding a Class 2 ebike in unincorporated parts of the county to wear a helmet; the local paper says the new rules make sense. Although while my understanding is they can legally do the first part of that under a bill signed by the governor last year, requiring anyone over 18 to wear a bike helmet exceeds their authority under state law.
An Arkansas organization is recycling used bicycle tires for use as industrial fuel in place of coal, saying burning the recycled rubber chips is more environmentally friendly than allowing them to sit in landfills — although it seems like a far cleaner use is mixing them into paving materials, rather than releasing the carbon to the atmosphere.
Women in the UK report being bullied off the road by motorists, with one woman from Northern Ireland stating that people often shout that she shouldn’t be on the road with her bike, while that rarely happens to her male partner.
A new German study says mountain bike tires are polluting the atmosphere, releasing an average of 3.64 grams of rubber per 60 miles of off-road riding — about a third of the rubber wear from motor vehicles over the same distance. But just imagine if they tried to burn them for fuel.
Pogačar said he doesn’t follow social media, calling it “the cancer of our society.” So maybe save the online attacks for someone who cares enough to read it.
Sad news from Belgium, where two of the 15,000 bicyclists participating in the Ronde van Vlaanderen Gran Fondo died of natural causes during the sportive, one day before the pros took to the course.
But it didn’t take long for local residents to get out their torches and pitchforks in opposition to it, despite our best efforts to explain how it would benefit them, from eliminating cut-through traffic to increasing property values.
The greatest conflict, however, was over finding a safe way to get bike riders across busy Highland Ave.
Each proposal was soundly booed, whether a traffic circle, stop light or on-demand crosswalk. Even though it would have made Highland much safer for everyone, on foot, a bike or in a car — or just living in the general area.
It didn’t take long for then Councilmember Tom LaBonge to fold, promising not to make any changes to the dangerous intersection, and dooming the entire proposal to the scrapheap of history.
Although someone later saw the light, and belatedly installed a push-button on-demand traffic light. Which helps people cross the street, but does little or nothing to slow speeding drivers.
All just blocks from where that proposed traffic circle would have forced drivers to slow down, improving safety along the entire corridor.
It’s common for people everywhere to oppose change. But in an effectively run city, the final decision would be made with an eye to safety, after listening to objections and incorporating any reasonable suggestions, knowing that most people will come around to support it once they get used to it.
But in Los Angeles, the only voices usually heard are the loudest — and too often, wealthiest.
So Highland will continue to be a racetrack, just like Sunset and Hollywood boulevards.
And innocent people will continue to die.
………
This is who we share the road with, too.
And why people keep dying on our streets.
A 35-year old mother was killed, along with her two young daughters, when a speeding driver slammed into another car, and careened into them as they walked in a New York crosswalk; at last report, her four-year old son was still clinging to life in critical condition.
But in reality, it was the entirely predictable result of allowing a woman who has shown a clear disregard for traffic laws and the courts to keep a car she could no longer legally drive.
Virginia just passed a law allowing judges to require repeat excessive speed drivers to install speed limiting technology, making it impossible to exceed the posted speed limit; New York State is considering a similar law.
Now we need to take the next step of impounding the cars of people with suspended driver’s licenses until they regain the right to drive legally.
A Tennessee man faces charges of reckless endangerment, aggravated assault and criminal littering for threatening a group of bicyclists on a rural road, driving his car at them and throwing beer bottles out the window, leaving two of the victims with visible bruises; he then made a U-turn and came back to run over one man’s bicycle, after the rider managed to jump out of the way.
Life is cheap in Idaho, where the driver of a gravel truck got a whole 90 days behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 14-year old kid standing on the side of the road next to his bicycle, but at least he’ll have to spend every holiday behind bars for the next two years, along with both his and his victim’s birthday.
San Antonio, Texas becomes the latest city to offer ebike vouchers, providing 244 $1,000 vouchers for low-income residents. Meanwhile, California’s deliberately throttled voucher program remains just this side of moribund.
A 64-year old Galveston, Texas man was sentenced to 35 years behind bars for using his truck to murder one man and injure another as they tried to get away on their bicycles, all over over a paltry five buck debt, as well as another 25 years for assaulting a third man. Which means he’d be 124 if he survives to serve his full terms, which seems just a little unlikely.
And always remember to bungie your corgi before you ride.
@tedrogerla.bsky.social Grabbed this from a Kiwi Corgi FB group. The owner takes "Spud" everywhere on the bike. She says Spud is harnessed in and loves it.
To assess the risk posed to cyclists by rigid bollards, DEKRA conducted two identical collision tests at its Crash Test Center in Neumünster, Germany, with a three-wheeled e-cargo bike driven at a speed of 25 km/h (about 15-16 mph), one against a flexible post and the other against a rigid one.
“In the test against the rigid post, there was a strong deceleration [slowing down] that threw the dummy from the saddle towards the handlebars. The bollard buckled and then acted as a ramp. The rear of the bike was lifted up, throwing the dummy off and causing the bike to tip over.”
“In a real-life situation, the person riding the bike would have suffered serious injuries,” Egelhaaf said.
On the other hand, flexible plastic bollards — like the car-tickler bendie posts preferred by LADOT — allowed riders to simply roll over them, with little or no risk of serious injuries.
But flexible bollards also do nothing to keep inattentive or uncaring drivers out of the bike lanes, and are often flattened within weeks, if not days, of their installation.
So the question becomes whether the risk of falls outweighs the risk posed by motorists and their big, dangerous machines.
I don’t know how to answer that.
The only way to get a actual answer would be to try a real world test on comparable roadways, and measure the rate of injuries on both after six months and a year.
And to the best of my knowledge, no one has done that. Or plans to.
………
This is who we share the road with.
A Santa Monica collision resulted in unexpected tragedy after a pickup driver collided with a motorcyclist on the 1400 block of Cloverfield Blvd, near the Specialized bike shop at Cloverfield and Santa Monica.
Witnesses said a driver seemed to intentionally crash into the victim’s motorcycle, after the motorbike rider waved a gun as the two men argued moments before the crash.
The driver claimed he accidentally hit the motorcycle while attempting to flee from the gunman — then he did flee immediately after the crash, turning a road rage incident into a fatal hit-and-run.
All because video showed a driver correctly slow down behind the recumbent rider to wait for a safe opportunity to pass, before a truck driver slammed on his brakes to avoid running up the driver’s ass, and nearly hit an oncoming car headed in the other direction.
And somehow, they managed to conclude this was all the bike rider’s fault.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here, either. A Boston bike commuter says the city’s new bike lanes are a metaphor for the Democratic Party, since they were built to appease a “small, highly vocal minority,” a “depressing number” of whom consider the resulting traffic congestion a benefit, not a trade-off. Tell us you don’t understand traffic calming without saying it.
If you’re going to hate on bicycles, might as well do it poetically, as a British letter writer pens an ode to the local city council’s “absurd” and “crazy” “cycle crusade.”
They get it. A Pasadena study session will consider how to revitalize North Lake Ave and turn it into a Complete Street to make it more inviting to bike riders and pedestrians, as it currently “suffers from excessive space allocated to cars.”
Costa Mesa will host Micromobility America, a trade show for ebike and e-scooter makers, and others in the micromobility industry, this Thursday and Friday.
Sad news from Sacramento, where a 32-year old woman was killed when she was stuck by a driver while trying to ride across the street; naturally, the CHP blamed the victim for riding directly into the car’s path, without mentioning whether the driver may have been speeding or gone through a traffic signal.
Bicycling considers how to say goodbye to the rider you used to be. A lesson I’ve struggled to learn myself. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.
That’s more like it. An Illinois driver faces up to 61 years in prison for the drugged-driving crash that killed a man riding a bicycle, after he was convicted on four counts of aggravated DUI causing death and one count of reckless homicide.
Life is cheap in Wales, where an 84-year old driver walked without a single day behind bars for killing a bike rider after claiming he just couldn’t see the victim, he was apparently spared jail time by virtue of being old. And once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive, if you can’t even see a grown man on a bicycle.
Cyclist looks back to Connie Carpenter’s — now Connie Carpenter-Phinney — win in the first women’s Olympic road cycling race at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, 40 years before the next American woman would take gold at this year’s Paris Olympics.
July 25, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Study shows road diets don’t affect EMS response times, and LAPD belatedly asks for help solving Lincoln Heights hit-and-run
Just 159 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
………
A new study shows exactly what we’ve been saying all along — that road diets don’t affect emergency response times.
The study involved Iowa road diets that converted formerly four lane roadways to two lanes in each direction and a center turn lane. It confirmed there was no difference in emergency response times from before the installation to after they were installed.
And despite what we’re usually told, most EMS responders didn’t think they did, either.
On the other hand, what did affect response times was drivers who didn’t know how the hell to yield to emergency vehicles, especially after a lane had been removed.
And from what we’ve seen here in Los Angeles, that’s most of them.
The driver reportedly ran a red light, causing the 49-year old motorcyclist to lay down his bike to avoid a collision. The victim then slid under a box truck and was run over, and died after being taken to a hospital.
The pickup driver continued without stopping.
And yes, it’s considered hit-and-run if you cause a crash, even if you don’t come into actual contact with the victim or their vehicle.
Never mind that, as usual, the LA cops waited until the trail got cold and people’s memory of the event faded before bothering to ask for the public’s help.
Even though both the city and state have passed hit-and-run alert programs intended to notify the public immediately after a crash, when people are most likely to recall key details that could lead to an arrest.
As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of this driver, or any other driver involved in a fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
Even though California’s program would have been the first in the nation if it had actually launched when it was originally approved by the legislature.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Four people have been arrested on murder and conspiracy charges following a West London collision that killed two men in their 20s riding bicycles. Unfortunately, given British press restrictions, there’s no information on how the crash occurred, why so many people were arrested or why police consider it a double murder.
No bias here. After yet another mass casualty crash, the BBC employs it’s most passive voice to say a “car and seven cyclists collided,” resulting in at least four serious injuries, and doesn’t even mention that the car had a driver until the next-to-last paragraph. Never mind that it’s highly unlikely the bicyclist collided with the car, rather than the driver plowing them down.
Police in San Diego are asking for the public’s help in finding the hit-and-run driver who left a 60-year old bike rider in grave condition. The victim suffered numerous injuries, including a fractured neck and bleeding in the brain; unfortunately, there’s no description of the driver or suspect vehicle. The cops actually managed to alert the public within days of the crash, rather than waiting weeks or months after a serious hit-and-run, if they even get around to it, like the LAPD.
An Alaska news site questions whether anyone is actually using a new Anchorage bike path as it nears the halfway point of the pilot project — even though it’s used by up to 150 bike riders a day, and the downtown bike corral it connects to is often full, with as many as 100 bicycles.
The post-pandemic bike bust claims another victim, as a 141-year old Cleveland bike shop that’s been run by the same family for three generations prepares to shutter its doors at the end of next month, a victim of supply chain problems and the difficulty finding trained workers.
The sister of assassinated British Member of Parliament Jo Cox celebrated the “inspirational” bike ride in her honor, with 83 people ranging from 16 to 78 completing the 288-mile ride from her hometown to London, where Cox was killed by a terrorist eight years ago.
An Irish man credits his bike helmet with saving his life when he was struck by a driver this past weekend, and thinks because they helped him, they should be required for everyone. Even though bike helmets are designed for relatively low speed falls, not violent collisions with bigass motor vehicles.
Velo examines who did and didn’t rake in the big bucks for the recently completed Tour de France, with three-time champ Tadej Pogačar hauling in nearly $875,000, while Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay brought a relatively paltry $58,000, despite winning three stages and the green jersey.
Outsideprofiles Olympic mountain biker Riley Amos, and the small southwest Colorado mountain town I can’t talk my wife into moving to that’s produced more top cyclists than almost any other American city.
March 21, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Metro reneges on pledge to complete LA River path by ’28, and life is cheap for Ethan Boyes in San Francisco’s Presidio
Just 285 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
LA River Waterway & System Bike Path: The missing link on the LA River bike path through Downtown is scheduled for completion in 2025.
LA River Bike Path and Mobility Hub – San Fernando Valley: LA River bike path improvements in the San Fernando Valley are also scheduled for completion in 2025.
That’s 2025. As in next year.
But now Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports Metro has punted the long-awaited projects off to some undetermined date in the future, likely long after the Olympics have come and gone.
28by28 yanked projects that won't be done by 2028: L.A. River bike path, Sepulveda transit/expresslanes, ESFV rail, lower 710, S.Bay C Line, A/E Wye, SE Gateway Line, Eastside E Line, 10 Freeway expresslanes pic.twitter.com/47nNmOuerN
I’m told the problem stems, at least in part, from a dispute over who would maintain the pathway, especially as it winds through DTLA and Vernon.
Metro is willing to fund the projects, but isn’t willing to assume responsibility for upkeep. Los Angeles will assume responsibility for the San Fernando Valley segment, but wants LA County to manage the other segment. And vice versa.
But apparently unwilling to sacrifice that catchy 28 by 28 branding, the projects will be replaced with a pair of mobility hubs in North Hollywood and the Sepulveda Basin.
So until either the city or the county agrees to hold on to the hot potato, you can count on continuing to take obtuse, circuitous and unsafe surface street bypasses around the missing LA River bike path segments.
Olympics and bike safety be damned.
Just one more in a very long and growing list of promises broken by LA city leaders.
Revised Twenty-Eight by 2028 project list from LA Metro, by way of Streetsblog Twitter/X.
The feds got the case because Boyes was killed while biking on federal property in San Francisco’s Presidio National Park.
But instead of throwing the book at the killer DUI driver, prosecutors offered 81-year-old Arnold Kinman Low an exceptionally generous plea deal, with a maximum penalty of one year behind bars.
One lousy year for pleading guilty to misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter and operating under the influence of alcohol.
Even though killing someone while driving under the influence would have resulted in a minimum of four years in state prison, and a maximum of ten, if he’d been prosecuted in a California court.
But at least Low will have to serve the full sentence, since federal prisoners aren’t eligible for parole for terms of 12 months or less.
Heartbreaking news from Sacramento, where a two-year old girl was killed when a three-year old boy climbed out of his car seat and into the driver’s seat after his father stopped at a gas pump, and left his pickup running to go inside the station. The boy apparently shifted the truck into gear, and smashed into the girl as she stood near a taco stand at the edge of the parking lot.
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Click through the tweet below for a short thread on the lack of accountability for transportation departments for designing and building streets that are so dangerous, the entirely predictable deaths that follow shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
A driver who killed two children in LA was recently convicted of murder on the grounds that a reasonable person would know that speeding in a residential neighborhood is deadly. What if we applied the same standard to DOTs. “Nobody was surprised” when this man’s child was killed. https://t.co/EVUNfxH4bz
West Hollywood approved a Complete Streets makeover for Willoughby Ave, as well as parts of Gardner Street, Vista Street and Kings Road, replacing the existing sharrows with curb extensions, scaled traffic circles, protected bike lanes, wayfinding signs, a mini-park, and enhanced crosswalks near schools.
Santa Monica cops will conduct yet another Bike & Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operation on Saturday, ticketing any driver, bicyclist or pedestrian who commits a traffic violation that could endanger anyone on two wheels or two feet. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits so you’re not the one who gets written up.
A Palo Alto website says a proposal by Caltrans to install green bike lanes on busy El Camino Real is the wrong way to go, because it would encourage bicyclists to ride on a busy street interrupted with frequent entrances and exits, and other “ingress and egress interruptions.” Or is it just that only drivers deserve safe, direct routes to wherever they happen to be going?
Cyclist considers the best titanium road and gravel bikes, as prices for Ti bikes continue to drop, while simultaneously going pretty damn far in the other direction, too.
July 27, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on I confess to a major screw up, advocates call on Metro to keep its damn promises, and shooting cars while naked
But in doing so, I called on them to help Fullerton bike advocates support a planned lane reduction, which has run into predictable opposition.
In my mind, I was placing Fullerton in the tangle of cities in Southeast Los Angeles County.
It’s not.
It’s in Northern Orange County, of course, on the other side of Buena Park. Something I should have known, having written about it several times. Let alone being there more than once.
So my apologies to BikeLA for any real or implied criticism of any lack of action in Fullerton — which is like criticizing the OC Sheriff’s Department for not patrolling in Norwalk.
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton writes that a group of organizations including BikeLA, Climate Resolve, MoveLA, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Streets For All signed a letter urging Metro to “promptly add several bike/walk facilities left out of Metro Regional Connector construction.”
Linton broke the news last month that Metro had left out several promised and/or required first-and-last-mile projects intended to improve safety and connectivity for people walking and biking near the near Regional Connector stations.
Although they somehow didn’t forget to add lanes for drivers.
According to Streetsblog,
The missing Connector first/last mile facilities fall into two categories: (more on these below)
omitted and scaled-back facilities in a Metro (with LADOT) federal grant – by Little Tokyo Station
facilities omitted that had been approved in the city’s Downtown Street Standards – at all three Connector stations
Streets For All founder Michael Schneider has been sounding an urgent note regarding the grant moneys, declaring that “[Metro and DOT] should implement the omitted elements now to avoid having to give the Feds their money back.”
The letter urges Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins and Metro Board Chair Mayor Karen Bass to “to move expediently to complete these required and promised pedestrian and bicycle improvements in the next three months,” as Linton notes in his subhead.
Speaking of BikeLA, they’ll be at the Bicycle Kitchen — which is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary — on Saturday, preaching bike safety and giving away free digital bike horns
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Safety advocates predicted more bicycling deaths after the New Orleans suburb of Algiers ripped out a two-year old protected bike lane, because some people complained about the aesthetics, lack of parking, and traffic. Someone should tell them that traffic congestion isn’t caused by bike lanes; it’s the result of too few people in too many cars.
In a truly bizarre story, a 19-year old Rhode Island man was arrested when security cam video showed he was the “primary aggressor,” after someone driving a pickup stopped and took his bicycle, and threw it into the back of the truck; he then took his bike back and punched the pickup driver hard enough to possibly break his own hand. Because apparently, you’re not allowed to fight back to keep someone from stealing your bike in Rhode Island, at least not if you’re big and Black.
Santa Monica police will conduct another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation next Thursday and Friday, ticketing any violations that could put either at risk, regardless of who commits them. So follow the usual protocol and ride to the letter of the law until you’re safely back in LA. “Safely” being a relative term.
State
Calbike says California is falling short on Complete Streets policies, with only one California city making Smart Growth America’s list of the nation’s leading cities for forward-thinking active transportation policies. And needless to say, it wasn’t Los Angeles.
For the second day in a row, a San Diego ebike rider was seriously injured in a crash with a pickup — even if this one was unoccupied — when 32-year old man crashed into the left rear bumper of a legally parked truck in the Shelltown neighborhood. Although it’s always possible that he was forced into the truck by a driver passing too close.
Truly awful story from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where a 40-year old woman was found dead in her home after someone apparently drove her there when she was the victim of a hit-and-run while riding her bike miles away. Yet another tragic reminder to always seek medical care if you’re hit by a motorist, because you’re probably hurt more than you think.
An Iowa state senator was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of refusing to abide by a law enforcement officer during this week’s RAGBRAI, insisting he didn’t have to budge when the cop ordered a group of bike riders to clear a roadway.
Jalopnik apparently sees its first advisory lane at a pilot demonstration in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and comes away predicting disaster for bike riders; the roadways feature a single traffic lane shared by drivers with bike lanes on either side, requiring drivers coming from opposite directions to briefly move into the bike lanes to pass one another.
Once again, Florida retains its title as the nation’s deadliest state for people on bicycles. California usually comes in second to Florida in terms of sheer numbers, despite having nearly twice the population.
Bold move from the Northampton International Cyclocross, as the country’s oldest ‘cross race requested that it be removed from the UCI calendar in order to continue to welcome all riders, after bike racing’s governing body recently reversed course to ban trans athletes from competing in women’s events. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the tip.
July 13, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on More on Fountain Valley hit-and-run, Boerner pulls Stop As Yield bill — again, and this is who we share the road with
This is the face of hit-and-run.
It’s not often that we learn what happened to a crash victim after the initial news stories.
If it even makes the news, that is.
But we’re learning a lot more about the bike-riding victim of a Fountain Valley hit-and-run driver, who barely survived the initial impact.
They place the crash at 10:30 pm on Tuesday the 4th, when Robinson was run down from behind as he was riding in the northbound bike lane on Bushard Street.
A crowdfunding campaign started by the victim’s family to help pay his medical expenses reports Robinson’s heart was ruptured when he was literally run over by the driver’s SUV, surviving only because one of the first people on the scene had medical training.
He was rushed into surgery, where doctor’s were able to repair his heart, despite suffering an injury with a less than 1% survival rate.
They add this about his ongoing injuries —
Caysen was in a medically induced coma and put on a ventilator. Drs weaned him off, and he had surgery for a compound fracture of his tibia. Caysen still needs surgery for the 4 facial fractures. Today Caysen had unidentified pain in his shoulder and wrist, and Drs are looking into additional broken or fractured bones.
According to his family, Robinson is facing a long road to recovery.
Police are looking for the driver of a possible 2014-2019 Toyota Highlander. Anyone with information is urged to call the Traffic Bureau with the Fountain Valley Police Department at 714/593-4481.
The crowdfunding campaign for Caysen Robinson has raised nearly 80% of the $50,000 goal — an amount that is likely to barely put a dent in the hospital and therapy bills illegally left on his battered shoulders by the heartless coward who left him lying broken in the street.
So if you’ve got any extra cash lying around, they could certainly use the help.
Photo from the GoFundMe page for Caysen Robinson. Thanks to Bill Sellin for the heads-up.
And yes, that’s the same Tasha Boerner who pledged to introduce a bill mandating licensing for ebike riders; we should have more on that tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a number of bills were passed out of committee in the state Senate, including —
AB 645 creating a speed cam pilot program in six California cities, including Los Angeles, Long Beach and Glendale;
AB 413 mandating daylighting at intersections to improve safety;
AB 825 to legalize sidewalk riding anywhere in California that lacks good bike infrastructure (and no, sharrows aren’t “good” bike infrastructure);
AB 7 requiring transportation and highway planners to align their work with the state’s climate goals;
and AB 610 to create statewide a youth transit pass program.
………
This is who we share the road with.
Part 1 — A 69-year old man was critically injured when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver in LA’s Pacoima neighborhood; the driver hit the victim as he was standing next to his car after drifting into the bike lane. As always, there is a standing $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injuries in the City of Los Angeles.
Part 2 — A Pennsylvania driver faces charges for killing a 54-year old man during a New York road rage confrontation, accelerating into the victim after he got out of his truck to slash the Pennsylvania man’s tires; witnesses absolved the killer, saying he acted in self-defense to protect two young girls in his car.
Metro, LADOT, Walk ‘N Rollers and BikeLA are hosting a community meeting tonight at the Helms Design Center in Culver City to consider first and last mile connections to the Culver City Metro Station; this comes after Culver City’s newly conservative city council voted to remove the highly successful Move Culver City protected bike lanes through the downtown area. Which is probably the most I’ve ever used Culver City in a single sentence.
Good for them. Caltrans took Palo Alto residents by surprise with plans to install bike lanes on El Camino Real after repaving the street, which received a lukewarm response from local officials — but since it’s a state highway, they may be powerless to stop it. Now do PCH through Malibu, which is also a state highway.
Yosemite National Park — or Yo Semite as our former president once called it — is addressing the crushing traffic congestion caused by tourists cars by introducing a free bikeshare system.
National
I want to be like them when I grow up. An Ohio newspaper talks with a couple in their 70s who were riding their tandem home to Iowa after visiting their son in Virginia — which is nothing compared to their 4,500-mile Washington to Maine cross-country ride.
Dueling demonstrations took place between people for and against a planned road diet in Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood, although only 50 people turned out to protest it. Someone should tell them that road diets and protected bike lanes have been shown to increase sales and reduce retail vacancies, while improving safety for all road users.
Tuesday’s stage victory by Bahrain Victorious rider Pello Bilbao was hailed by His Majesty the King’s Representative for Humanitarian Work and Youth Affairs His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain. They probably would have given him a longer title, but couldn’t think of anything else to add.
A nice three day weekend with my wife was, if not ruined, at least darkened by a road raging woman who nearly ran us down making a left turn as we crossed the street, less than a block from our home.
She somehow took offense when I objected to the way my wife, dog and I nearly became roadkill, screaming that it was our fault because we hadn’t been paying attention.
Which was true for the dog, anyway.
Never mind that a) we had the right-of-way, b) she started her turn after we were already crossing the street, and c) she neglected to use her turn signal, which might have tipped us off.
But in her mind, we were 100% at fault.
Just another reminder that cars can turn people into monsters.
And that we’ll never have safe streets until our elected leaders have the courage and political will to actually do something about it.
To qualify, participants can make no more than 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL).
The base incentive will be $1,000.
Participants can get an additional $750 toward the purchase of a cargo bike or adaptive bike.
People whose income is below 225% of FPL or who live in a disadvantaged community can qualify for an additional $250, so the maximum incentive amount is $2,000.
Incentives can be applied toward sales tax, as well as the purchase price.
Incentives will be applied at the point of sale.
All three classes of e-bikes can qualify for incentives.
Used bikes will not be eligible.
Incentives can be used to buy e-bikes from local bike shops or online retailers with a business location in California.
Adaptive bikes can include tricycles. CARB plans to keep the definition of adaptive e-bikes as broad as possible.
Keenan was riding his bike to the movies in Mission Valley when the driver, who hasn’t been publicly named, let alone shamed, rounded a corner on the wrong side of the road and hit him head-on.
His confessed killer is copping a plea to misdemeanor Vehicular Manslaughter with Gross Negligence, with a three-year license suspension and not one day behind bars.
Let me repeat.
A lousy license suspension — not even revocation — and no jail time at all. For needlessly killing another human being, while likely driving distracted.
According to the organization, Keenan’s wife Laura has become one of the leading voices for safer streets in the nearly year and a half since his death, and deserves the support of the entire bicycling community in calling for the judge to add additional penalties, like community service and probation, at the sentencing hearing.
According to the BBC, the protestors based their LTN complaints on the difficulties they could pose for motorists who could be unable to drive directly through the city. Not to mention some major climate change denial, as well as baseless claims that it would result in a “climate lockdown,” with residents required to stay at home to protect the environment.
Meanwhile, 15-minute city proposals were bizarrely accused of being a front for a dystopian concentration camp-like lockdown, with gates locking residents inside their zone, allowed to leave just 100 days a year. Along with the creation of an Orwellian surveillance state to enforce climate goals.
Consider, for instance, this speech by a 12-year old anti-Greta Thuneburg, which has been circulating in rightwing circles for the past few days. Even if it, like the rest of the opposition, is based almost entirely on baseless conspiracy theories.
And none of which actually have a damn thing to do with it, of course.
A 15-minute city simply means that everything you need for daily life should be located within 15 minutes of your home — preferably by walking, biking or taking transit.
Meanwhile, LTNs are simply designed to discourage driving through a neighborhood, to increase the safety and livability of the community.
Neither one is intended to force anyone out of their cars. And they certainly have nothing to do with a dystopian surveillance state.
Here’s how British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid debunks the conspiracies in under a minute.
Unfortunately for us monolingual types, though, it’s in French.
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The legendary Nina Simone was one of us.
Born on this day, February 21: Nina Simone, musician (1933-2003), seen here riding with producer Mike Hurst near Buckingham Palace in 1965. Happy #BicycleBirthday, Nina!#BOTDpic.twitter.com/jeTSWJ4kPI
No bias here, either. A Florida letter writer says bicyclists are a danger to themselves and others on the road because it’s a fact that we can’t keep up with traffic flow, and it’s our fault drivers get mad about it because we shouldn’t be there into first place. Then again, it’s also a fact that people on bikes are often faster than congested traffic. And we’re not responsible for how drivers, or anyone else, reacts.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
SoCal Cycling discusses how to get back into bicycling after a long layoff. Kind of like the one I’ve gone through with one diabetes-related health problem after another, which has resulted in a bike that’s virtually unrideable at this point. And a rider who can’t either.
Unbelievable. Metro’s board Planning and Programming Committee rejected calls for pedestrian crosswalk improvements in Pasadena, as part of a package of multimodal projects using leftover funds from the cancelled 710 Freeway extension; advocates hope the full board will overturn the decision this week. Apparently they’ve forgotten the urgent need to improve walkability and bikeability in the face of a climate emergency.
CNN highlights ten of the world’s best cities to explore by bicycle; unfortunately, San Francisco is the only US city on the list. And needless to say, Los Angeles isn’t. Thanks to Steve Fujinaka for the tip.
December 19, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on High desert man busted for 2nd DUI in 3 months, this is who we share the road with, and lots more ‘Tis the Season
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Sadly, though, not one single person donated to the fund drive yesterday; just the second time that’s happened this year.
So let’s all thank Douglas M, Devin D and Steven F for their generous donations on Friday and Saturday to bring you the latest bike news and advocacy every morning.
This is how the Victorville Daily Press described the arrest.
While speaking with Woodward, the deputy said the suspect was “uncooperative,” and several liquor bottles were seen inside the suspect’s vehicle. The deputy determined that Woodward was driving under the influence of alcohol…
Woodward was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol over .08%, reckless driving, and obstructing a peace officer. He was cited and released on Thursday.
Because of the reckless driving charge, Woodward’s vehicle was impounded for 30 days.
Go back and read that again.
The driver’s vehicle was impounded after his arrest — not because he was driving drunk, but because he was driving recklessly.
After his first drunk driving arrest, they apparently just handed his license back to him, and sent him home to do it again.
And chances are, this was just the first time he got caught again.
So if you’ve ever wondered why people keep dying on our streets, you can start with lawmakers who think it’s too dangerous to let reckless drivers keep their cars, but perfectly okay for drunks to keep driving.
Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.
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This is who we share the road with.
"Innocent driver killed in crash at end of chase in Westminster involving OC sheriff's deputies"
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Italian bicyclists are up in arms after a judge ruled that hate speech directed at them is not a crime, after someone wrote “Hit one cyclist to educate a hundred” in response to a Facebook post. Although that wouldn’t even be a consideration in the US, where the 1st Amendment protects the right to make stupid and hateful comments.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A British husband and wife team set a new record for biking around the world on a tandem bike, passing through Berlin’s famed Brandenburg Gate — in a blizzard, no less — just 180 days after setting off from the same spot, presumably in better weather. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the link, who assures us he and his wife will not be challenging the new record.
