Tag Archive for this is who we share the roads with

Soto-Martinez calls for new bus and bike lanes in CD13, San Diego op-ed calls bike lanes a rip-off, and drivers behaving badly

December 14, 2022 / / One comment

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You can’t say things aren’t changing in Los Angeles these days.

And Hollywood in particular.

In his first council session after replacing the recently ousted Mitch O’Farrell in LA’s 13th Council District, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced a motion calling for LADOT to report back with a list of bus lanes, bike infrastructure and pedestrian safety improvements that can be implemented within the next 18 months, as well as calling for placing shelters at every bus stop in the district.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1602864863667101697

Quite a change from O’Farrell, who spent eight years slow walking most safety projects, if not outright blocking them.

You can ask Soto-Martinez about his plans for the district at this evening’s Streets For All virtual happy hour; RSVP here.

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No bias here.

A retired university professor suggests that San Diego’s commitment to building bike infrastructure, with a goal of achieving a 10% bike commuting rate, is just another special interest rip-off.

Is this a joke? Or is it a monumental rip-off perpetrated by a very small but clearly well-organized special interest group of biking enthusiasts?

And then there is a safety issue. To date, there seemingly has not been any effort by the city or the state to either educate or enforce the multiple safety issues that are important for a mutual use of roadways by bicycles and automobiles. Few bikes on the road after dark have reflectors or lights; it is very rare to see a bicyclist signal to turn. And bicyclists blow through red lights and stop signs consistently — usually as they fly down one of the hills.

Just wait until he sees how people drive, in their big, smelly, two-ton death-dealing machines as they text on their phones, roll stop sighs and race to the next red light.

Of course, his proof that it’s a rip-off is that he and his husband don’t see bikes in the exact bike lane they’re watching, at the exact moment they’re watching it.

And never mind that the well-funded advocacy groups he complains about are in fact dramatically underfunded nonprofits who have to beg for money to continue their work every year.

It would be of interest to know which consultant arrived at this 10 percent number — and how. Special interest groups are focused, connected, well-organized and funded. My guess is that they were heavily involved in the planning for the pathways. And while clearly their prerogative, their influence seems to have outweighed the broader public good.

In reality, the broader public good includes getting people out of their cars — electric or otherwise — before we succeed in our so far successful efforts to destroy our planet, unless and until the erstwhile world’s richest man manages to find another one to move us all to.

And, of course, he can’t manage to make his case without the stunning revelation that “San Diego is not Copenhagen, Stockholm or Amsterdam.”

No, it isn’t. San Diego has much better weather for much of the year. And none of those cities were bike-friendly until they made the commitment and difficult transition to become that way.

But there is one thing he gets right.

San Diego is hilly, built around numerous canyons and hillsides. Yet I somehow managed to find relatively flat routes to get wherever I was going when I lived down there decades ago.

I doubt it’s gotten any hillier since.

Then there’s the ability of ebikes to flatten that terrain, and let anyone ride up and down them with minimal effort.

And if you’re to believe the local media and panicked seaside city officials, the entire place is already being overrun by ebike-riding social terrorists.

It’s possible that the city’s efforts to increase bicycling rates may fail, with too many people clinging to their steering wheels like Charleston Heston to his guns.

But it’s far too soon to give up, when the city’s bike network is still in its nascent stage. Let alone when its success is the only way the city can meet its climate goals.

So give it time, and keep building bikeways.

The worst thing that will happen is that the city will continue to get safer and more livable.

And maybe someday, someone in Copenhagen or Amsterdam will insist that they’re not San Diego.

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This is who we share the road with.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, except for the driver of the suspected stolen truck.

And a Laguna Beach hardware store was forced to close when a woman somehow drove her Tesla through the outer wall. Luckily, no one was injured.

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You only have until the end of this month to offer your input on how to make Redondo Beach Blvd and Ripley Ave safer and more comfortable spaces to bike and walk.

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After yesterday’s item about the brief flight of a pedal-powered plane, Steven Hallett reminds us about the Gossamer Albatross, the human-powered plane that successfully crossed the English Channel all the way back in 1979.

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

New York building owners are banning ebikes and e-scooters over concerns about battery fires, even though the problem is largely limited to refurbished batteries and mismatched chargers.

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

The people have spoken. People commenting here have all said we should stop linking to articles here where bike use is just incidental to some crime, rather than central to the story. So from here on, this section will be reserved for bike riders who fuck up big time. Let’s just make sure it’s not you, k?

Or me, for that matter.

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Local 

A Los Angeles actor and producer makes a pilgrimage to the great bicycling meccas of Europe.

In what should be must-see viewing for local and state officials, the new documentary 21 Miles in Malibu examines LA County’s killer highway, calling it one of the deadliest stretches of roadway in California.

 

State 

Caltrans is holding a webinar on Friday to present a progress report on the the Statewide Bike and Pedestrian Plan, with public comment extended to January 13th. Yes, Friday the 13th.

Streetsblog examines the worthy active transportation projects that didn’t get funded by the California Transportation Commission under a one-time, $1 billion state funding boost, demonstrating just how much demand there is for better bike and walking infrastructure.

‘Tis the season. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office held their annual Christmas Bike Giveaway for the 33rd straight year, donating 300 bicycles refurbished by county jail inmates to kids in need.

San Francisco Streetsblog checks the progress on the new curb-protected bike lanes on Oakland’s iconic Telegraph Ave.

 

National

A writer for Planetizen argues active transportation and micromobility can do far more to provide cost-effective cuts in emissions than most current emission reduction plans. Meanwhile, Government Technology suggests micromobility has rebounded from its pandemic-induced downturn.

A Streetsblog podcast talks with historian and author Peter Norton about the history of roadside memorials to the victims of traffic violence.

Bike Portland reports the city is working with the FHA to build several advisory lanes, where bike riders get a lane on both sides, and drivers share a single center lane.

Kindhearted Texas cops worked with a nonprofit group to give a boy with special needs a new bike after his was stolen. Don’t get me started on what kind of schmuck would steal a bike from a special needs kid, though.

More on the Michigan bike shop owner killed in a Florida collision while delivering bikes to children affected by Hurricane Ian; 57-year old Steven Pringle was a grandfather and Army vet who founded a nonprofit providing “bicycle therapy” to veterans by repairing bikes to give to children in need.

The bike lanes on New York’s Roosevelt Island Bridge got a new weather-resistant surface, replacing the metal grate that was prone to causing tire punctures.

New York building owners are banning ebike and e-scooters over fears of battery fires.

 

International

CityLab sees a big opportunity in tiny electric minicars.

Quebec rules that a bike rider who was grazed, but not hit, by a passing motorist is entitled to compensation for her injuries. Although someone should tell them that getting “grazed” is getting hit. And so is getting sucked in or blown off the road by a passing vehicle. 

A London micromobiity company is placing a cognitive function test within their app, which will require ebike and e-scooter users to prove they’re not intoxicated before they’re allowed to rent one. So why can’t we do the same thing for motorists?

Portugal is the first country to reduce the value-added tax, or VAT, on bicycles in an effort to encourage increased ridership.

A Norwegian student praises the kindness of people in India’s Uttar Pradesh province, after thieves stole his phone, credit card, ID and other documents while on an around the world bike tour.

Bizarre story from Australia, where a young woman pled guilty to manslaughter in the death of a 7-foot tall man who was last scene riding his bike, after arguing that she only thought her boyfriend and another man were going to “kick the shit out of him,” not kill him.

 

Competitive Cycling

Colombian cyclist Miguel Ángel López was unceremoniously fired from his Astana-Qazaqstan cycling team, after the team found “probable” connections to a Spanish doctor being investigated for suspected drug trafficking and money laundering. But the era of doping is over, right? Or did they just get better at hiding it?

A Burbank website profiles a 16-year old mountain biker who competes in competitions throughout the US.

 

Finally…

Your bike could soon tell you when it needs new shoes. Why reinvent the wheel when you can just build a better kickstand?

And that feeling when bikes get squeezed out by pickleball.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Crowdfunding campaign for San Jacinto man killed in deliberate crash, and road raging Maywood driver kills pedestrian

December 12, 2022 / / 7 comments

It’s the penultimate week of the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Just two more weeks share just a small part of your hard-earned income to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy.

So let’s take a moment to thank David H, Thomas A, Brandon H, David S, Walter L, Steven H, Erick H, Steven S, Gabrielle L, Glenn C and James B for their generous donations over the weekend so you can read this today.

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Family of one of the many — too many — bicycling crash victims we reported on last week is raising funds to bury their loved one. Police say Margarito Castro was intentionally run down by a speeding driver in a San Jacinto hit-and-run.

So far, they’ve raised nearly $3,000 of the $15,000 goal.

Twenty-one-year old Savaughn Jojuan Colon Barnes of Hemet is being held on $100,000 bond on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter and hit-and-run resulting in death for killing Castro.

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This is who we share the road with.

A Maywood driver could face charges after allegedly running down a pedestrian in a fatal road rage collision Friday night.

Hopefully we’ll learn more soon, because that’s almost all the information we have right now.

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Somehow, I don’t think LADOT’s favorite little car-ticker plastic bendy posts would have the same, uh, impact.

Although it’s hard not to watch this icy demolition derby without admiring the person on a bike who’s not letting the snow slow him down, let alone stop him.

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Sometimes, you just have to take matters into your own hands.

https://twitter.com/HowTheWestWS/status/1602176354912305153

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Maybe riding a Penny Farthing is harder than it looks. (Click on the tweets for the full thread.)

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‘Tis the season.

Costa Mesa’s TZone Fitness & Pilates is collecting bicycle donations for Orange County nonprofit Families and Communities Together, aka FACT, to provide rebuilt bikes to at-risk kids and teens.

Over 150 volunteers in Vancouver, Washington built 560 bikes to give away to local families, in an effort to ensure every kid in the county has a bike.

Rapid City, South Dakota balance bikemaker Strider Bikes hosted their 5th annul Jingle Bell Ride to benefit All Kids Ride. Which may or may not actually be All Kids Bike.

A Texas nonprofit gave away over 300 bikes to families in the Brazos Valley.

Thirteen years after he was given a new bike by a fireman at the local Christmas parade, an Oklahoma teenager and his father are paying it forward by giving away eight to ten bikes to random kids at the same parade.

A Dayton, Ohio man grew up reclaiming bikes from the trash and fixing them up because his family couldn’t afford one. Now he fixes up hundreds of bikes and gives them away to anyone who asks.

Madison, Wisconsin’s annual Santa Cycle Rampage rolled through the snow and slush of downtown to raise money for Safe Routes to School.

National nonprofit Free Bikes 4 Kidz gave away nearly one thousand refurbished bikes to kids in Minnesota, as part of a nationwide effort.

Nearly 100 bike-riding Santas participated in a Lapeer, Michigan toy ride for families in need.

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

Huh? An Edmonton, Alberta letter writer complains about the city’s $100 million plan to extend its bikeway network, saying the bike lanes will somehow lead to one-hour delays on local streets.

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

In an example of how hard it is to get bad cops off the job, a former San Antonio bike cop still carries a badge, despite being twice fired for giving a homeless man a literal shit sandwich, and spreading his and another cop’s crap over a toilet seat in the station’s women’s restroom. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

An Arkansas man got a well-deserved 15 years after he was arrested with a long knife while riding his bike to his girlfriend’s house after threatening to kill her. Having a boyfriend who rides a bike is a good thing, but something tells me she might want to rethink her taste in men.

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Before we go on, I received a very nice email over the weekend from an American expat now living a carfree life in Berlin.

However, he raised one concern about the section above. I often include links to stories in which someone used a bicycle to get somewhere to commit a crime or make their getaway. But as he points out, if we focused on a criminal’s mode of transportation, we could fill this site every day with people who drove to or from their crimes.

So what do you think? Should we keep mentioning people who only incidentally used a bike as transportation to commit a crime, or drop stories like that unless the bike actually had something to do with their crime?

Let me know in the comments below.

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Local 

As we mentioned last week, the state Transportation Commission approved nearly $1 billion in funding for 93 active transportation projects throughout the state, including $38.6 million to build three miles of Complete Streets in LA’s Skid Row neighborhood, complete with bike lockers and ebike charging stations.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers actionable transportation ideas for new Los Angeles Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, who defeated incumbent Mitch O’Farrell in the November election; Linton’s suggestions include a call to revisit the lane reductions and bike lanes cancelled by O’Farrell on Fletcher Drive and Temple Street, as well as a proposal to remove cars from Hollywood Blvd.

Santa Clarita’s Trek Bike Park is hosting Friday Night Lights this Friday, offering a chance to ride the BMX and mountain bike trails under the lights for free.

 

State 

In yet another example of keeping a driver on the road until it’s too late, a 63-year old man riding a mountain bike was seriously injured in a hit-and-run in San Diego’s Rancho Penasquitos neighborhood; police arrested the 93-year old driver after witnesses gave them the car’s license number. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive. 

A 60-year old man is lucky to be alive after falling 70 to 80 feet off a Carpinteria cliff while riding his bike; he lay at the bottom of the cliff, unable to move, for nearly an hour until he was discovered by a woman walking by on the beach.

Sad news from Stockton, where a 26-year old mother and college student died six days after she was struck by a driver while riding her bike to class.

The University of California rowing team is holding a fundraiser to raise $50,000 to purchase an eight-person racing shell, and name it after teammate Shawn O’Donnell, one of two State Department workers killed while riding a bike in DC this past year. Thanks to Steve Messer for the link.

A Bay Area letter writer asked how to get a dangerous driver to give up the keys, after trying to get an older woman with poor eyesight to stop driving; she only quit after she crashed into someone on a bicycle, injuring them.

 

National

Life is cheap in Colorado, where a 70-year old driver walked without a single day behind bars for killing a bike rider, after he was sentenced to a lousy two years probation on a careless driving conviction.

A New Orleans man was apparently murdered for his bicycle;a security guard heard three shots, and looked out to see a man lying in the street and a woman riding off on his bike.

Life is cheap in Louisiana, where a 31-year old man will serve just three years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run crash that killed a man riding a bike, after the judge suspended seven years of the original ten-year sentence.

 

International

Bike Biz recommends what they describe as six dream jobs in the bicycle industry in the US, UK and Europe. The UK used to be part of Europe, but they voted themselves off the island. 

Manchester, England unveiled the country’s first bicycle roundabout, leading to immediate confusion and comments that it only serves to endanger pedestrians and inconvenience less able-bodied people.

New bike lanes in Bath, England are called an accident waiting to happen because they force bus passengers to step into the bike lane to get off the bus, then cross over it to get to the sidewalk — even though people on bikes are required to stop for pedestrians.

A British man rode his bike to all 18 London professional soccer clubs in less than 36 hours to call attention to human trafficking in the sport.

That’s more like it. A South African man will spend six years behind bars for the drunken crash that killed a man riding a bicycle.

An Aukland, New Zealand man will spend an additional three years behind bars for kidnapping and terrorizing a delivery van driver, on top of the five years and one month sentence he’s already serving for killing a bike rider while fleeing from police; the judge warned he will “almost certainly” re-offend once he gets out.

 

Competitive Cycling

Clara Honsinger made it a three-peat by winning her third straight elite women’s national title in the snow at the US Cyclocross National Championships

A writer for Road.cc remembers fallen Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin, who made him fall in love with cycling over his 30-year professional career.

More sad news, as former Tour de France cyclist Walter Beneteau was found dead in a Bali, Indonesia hotel room from unknown causes; the 50-year old French rider finished seven straight Tours between 2000 and 2006.

The popular Santa Cross rolls in Woodland Hills this weekend. (Click on the tweet for a more legible schedule.)

Also this weekend, the Velo Sport’s Center in Carson is hosting a full weekend of track cycling, hosted by the Los Angeles Racing Velodrome Association. Thanks to David Huntsman for the tip.

 

Finally…

Your next SUV could be an ebike. And if you were a foreign correspondent working in the Netherlands, wouldn’t you do your reports from a bike?

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Romero guilty of murder in Huntington Beach DUI bike death, and wrong-way driver injures 25 LA sheriff’s cadets

November 17, 2022 / / Comments Off on Romero guilty of murder in Huntington Beach DUI bike death, and wrong-way driver injures 25 LA sheriff’s cadets

Guilty.

An Orange County jury convicted 28-year old Victor Manuel Romero of second-degree murder and hit-and-run in the 2019 death of Raymond MacDonald as he rode his bike in Huntington Beach.

Romero faced the murder charge after signing a Watson notice following a 2012 conviction for DUI, specifying that he could be charged with the crime if he killed someone while under the influence anytime in the future.

And he did.

Romero started the deadly chain of events by crashing into a bar owner’s car as he left a parking lot, before smashing into MacDonald’s bike and speeding off without slowing down, then fleeing on foot after finally crashing his car into a tree.

He had been drinking at a pair of Huntington Beach bars, and got into a fight with someone in the parking garage next door, which his lawyer bizarrely argued meant Romero was not responsible for his actions after suffering a brain injury.

Fortunately, the jury didn’t buy it.

He now faces 15 to life when he is sentenced in February.

Adding to the tragedy, MacDonald had just finished celebrating his 33rd birthday, and was towing a bike trailer loaded with gifts across the street when Romero ran him down.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

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This is who we share the road with.

A wrong-way SUV driver plowed into a group of LA County Sheriff’s cadets on a Whittier training run Wednesday morning, injuring 25 recruits — five critically.

One of the five is on a ventilator, while others suffered life-changing injuries, including lost limbs.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who lost his run for re-election this week, describe the scene as looking like an airplane crash, with “bodies scattered everywhere.”

And in case anyone still thinks hi-viz is the key to bike and pedestrian safety, all 75 recruits on the run were wearing reflective vests, in addition to running in four columns accompanied by two black-and-white patrol vehicles and eight road guards.

Yet the driver still smashed into them at an estimated 30 – 40 mph. Not only did the 22-year old driver fail to slow down, there are reports that he continued accelerating as he sliced through the cadets — which could suggest this was something other than just another “oopsie.”

Reports varied on whether driver appeared to be under the influence after the crash, though cannabis was found in his vehicle.

He was taken into custody by the cadets, and was transported to the hospital with undisclosed injuries.

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No surprise here, unfortunately.

A year after acquiring Cycling Tips, Pink Bike and Trailforks, Outside has reportedly laid-off 12 percent of the workforce, with a focus on writing and editorial workers, including at sister publication VeloNews.

Needless to say, it was not well received by readers of the sites.

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Nice to see LA marking Sunday’s World Day of Remembrance for victims of traffic violence.

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Georgia senatorial candidate Hershel Walker somehow derided his opponent, incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock, for “letting” President Joe Biden ride his bike.

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

A Brooklyn councilmember is demanding answers from the local police precinct commander, saying it’s deeply disturbing that a noted bike lawyer was hauled off in handcuffs for attempting to remove a piece of plastic illegally obscuring a driver’s license plate.

A Hoboken city councilmember called for more bike lanes, days after he was hit by a driver who yelled at him to use the bike lane before crashing into him; the driver in question says it was just an “oopsie,” not road rage.

No bias here. A Conservative Member of the British Parliament says lowering the speed limit in Wales to 20 mph is just a ploy to raise cash while attacking motorists — even if it is almost universally ignored.

https://twitter.com/Jacob_Rees_Mogg/status/1592836096731533314?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1592836096731533314%7Ctwgr%5Eac15100cc8bf610c5e36737beadaaa012740ac3b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-16-november-2022-297401

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

A bike-riding British naval commander has been cleared of using racially abusive language in a heated roadside road rage incident with a Black motorist, who alleged the commander called him a “Black cunt,” while the sailor insisted he had merely referred to the driver’s black car.

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Local

In what could be good news for bike riders, CD13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell conceded his re-election effort to challenger Hugo Soto-Martinez, who has promised to complete many of the bikeway projects O’Farrell had blocked until recently, along with pedestrianizing parts of Hollywood Blvd.

 

State 

Streetsblog talks with Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Dave Campbell, who is leaving the organization after 26 years of fighting for safer streets in the East San Francisco Bay Area.

Sad news from Modesto, where a man riding a bicycle was killed in a collision Tuesday evening. He must have been the victim of a sentient self-driving car, however, since there’s no mention of a driver anywhere in the article.

 

National

Politico talks with former DC and Chicago DOT director Gabe Klein, who is now tasked with overseeing EV infrastructure for the Biden administration.

Gear Junkie recommends ten gifts for the bicyclist in your life. Even if the only bicyclist in your life is you.

A new study from Oregon State University shows bike boxes really do improve safety at intersections for people on bicycles.

The rich get richer. Just one day after we mentioned the ebike rebate program in Austin, Texas, the city announced it is more than doubling the amount available for rebates, from $600 to $1,300.

Chicago’s mayor was deservedly blasted online after an advocacy group posted video of her guards double-parked in a bike lane for a doughnut run.

‘Tis the season. An Ohio man is preparing for holiday bike giveaways, after spending the year collecting, fixing and donating bikes for kids who need them; he estimates he’s given away nearly double the 3,000 bikes from last year.

A Connecticut driver learns the hard way that it may not be the best idea to flee the scene after severely injuring the bike-riding brother of the state’s lieutenant governor.

New York considers a ban on secondhand and uncertified lithium-ion ebike and e-scooter batteries, which have been blamed for an increasing number of fires.

An 18-year old Virginia man now faces additional charges for the alleged drunken crash that killed one woman and seriously injured another as they were riding together this past August.

South Carolina advocates are calling on the legislature to repeal a ban on red light cameras, as a national study shows the traffic cams reduce fatalities by 20%. Hopefully, a new city council will reconsider LA’s ban on red light cams, too.

An Orlando bike cop was lucky to escape with minor injuries when he was dragged by a fleeing driver following a traffic stop, and was still stuck on the vehicle when the driver crashed into a tree.

 

International

A new report shows it’s still not safe to travel through London if you’re not in a car.

Bicycling deaths are even spiking in bike-friendly Belgium, as fatalities hit a ten-year high for the first nine months of this year.

An Indian man has just 21 countries left in his around-the-world bike tour of 191-countries, which began four bikes and 18 years ago; one of the bikes was purchased by the Polish prime minister, after his previous bicycle was stolen while touring the country.

 

Competitive Cycling

Lachlan Morton, the Aussie cyclist who beat the Tour de France peloton to Paris in his own Alt Tour, has now set his sites on breaking the 78-day record for riding around the world set by Scottish long-distance cyclist Mark Beaumont in 2017.

World handbike champ Mitch Valize is working with a lab in the Netherlands to improve the high-tech materials and design of his handcycle, comparing it to the design of F1 race cars.

 

Finally…

That feeling when science proves ebikes are more efficient and fun than regular bikes. If you’re going to burglarize vehicles, try to hide your wet bike tires from sharp-eyed cops.

And if the prices are too good to be true, you may have been conned by yet another fraudulent SRAM website.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

This is who we share the road with, new 1st Street bike lane in DTLA, and call to end freeway widening in LA County

September 30, 2022 / / Comments Off on This is who we share the road with, new 1st Street bike lane in DTLA, and call to end freeway widening in LA County

Let’s start with a quick look at who we share the road with.

A hit-and-run driver was arrested by police after he killed a man and his three dogs walking in Downtown Los Angeles early yesterday, then crashed into several parked cars trying to flee; police used a stun gun and baton to take the man down.

And a 20-year old woman faces 25 to life after allegedly using her car to kill a Cypress man she thought was trying to run over a cat; she thoughtfully recorded the confrontation on her cellphone, in case prosecutors needed more evidence to put her away. No word on whether the cat escaped with all nine lives intact.

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Another new bike lane in DTLA.

Now if they’d just put a few in the rest of the city.

https://twitter.com/multimodalLA/status/1575700094510280705

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Seriously, someone tell Metro and Caltrans to take the hint, already. And stop wasting billions on induced demand-inducing freeway projects.

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More news from Gavin Newsom’s veto pen, as he signs a bill requiring bike parking in new multifamily construction, but vetoes a bill requiring the state to put its climate change money where its mouth is.

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Just a reminder that there are still good people in the world.

Although it’s also a reminder not to post videos online that start or end where you live.

https://twitter.com/clarkstbikelane/status/1575669587663761408

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

Life is cheap in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where killing a woman and injuring another bike rider as they took part in a fundraising ride only merits a lousy ticket for a bad lane change. Although that’s still more than the driver would get in some other places.

Police are looking for the bike rider who viciously attacked a disabled London man while threatening to kill him, after the driver tried to let him know he was behind him. As we’ve said before, violence is always wrong. But something tells me there’s another side to this story.

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

Police in Eugene, Oregon busted a man with an outstanding warrant after he went over his handlebars while trying to flee the cops on his bicycle.

The New York man who killed Gone Girl and Cocktail actress Lisa Banes faces one to three years behind bars after pleading guilty to running her down with his moped.

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Local

South Pasadena will observe the annual Walk or Bike to School Day on Wednesday.

 

State 

The Orange County Transportation Authority is urging people to walk, bike, use transit, share a ride or work from home during next week’s Rideshare Week.

Police in Carlsbad are asking for witnesses to the ebike crash that left a 61-year old woman with serious injuries; it’s not clear if she was the victim of a hit-and-run or a solo crash.

Goleta will host a public meeting Tuesday to discuss the San Jose Creek Bike Path Project.

Sad news from Redwood City, where a man was killed when a semi driver crossed the double yellow line and hit his bicycle head-on; the driver was arrested on a charge of involuntary manslaughter with gross negligence.

San Francisco bicyclists are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the original Critical Mass tonight.

Richmond’s Rich City Rides is as important to the East Bay Community as the East Side Riders are down here. Right now, they’re 13% of the way to their $10,000 fundraising goal to keep giving away free bicycles and bike repair to people in need. Just in case you have a little extra money lying around.

 

National

Bicycling looks at the best bike shorts with pockets to stash your essentials. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Forbes examines whether you can get a DUI on a bicycle. Short answer, in California, yes. In other states, it depends.

Vision Zero is failing in Seattle, where traffic deaths continue to climb despite the commitment to end them by 2030.

A Spokane writer visits the Netherlands to examine how the western Washington city could elevate itself to the ranks of bike friendly cities like Copenhagen, Mexico City and Portland. All of which would work just as well in Los Angeles.

Salt Lake City’s efforts to get more people on two wheels is paying off, with a 19% jump in bike commuting rates over the past two years.

Just one day after pledging to rip out the city’s only protected bike lane — and hours after a protest from bike riders — the mayor of Omaha, Nebraska says the bike lane will stay in place until construction begins on a planned streetcar.

Slate examines why Houston cops would say a quiet residential street “isn’t safe for pedestrians or people riding bikes” after an eight-year old boy was killed doing just that.

That’s more like it. A 44-year old Peoria, Illinois woman has been sentenced to 22 years behind bars for the drunken, hit-and-run crash that killed a ten-year old boy riding an ebike.

The Boston Globe says bike riders and runners are turning to gravel trails as a safe refuge from aggressive drivers. Or it could just be because it’s fun. Or both, maybe.

New York’s attorney general took a few minutes off from suing the Trump Organization to warn New Yorkers about the dangers of improperly charging ebike batteries.

Great idea. A New York City council member has proposed a bounty for reporting a blocked bike or sidewalk; the program would pay a reward equalling 25% of the $175 fine.

New Jersey is establishing a committee to create a statewide Vision Zero program. First step is to actually fund the damn thing, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name. 

 

International

Road.cc considers the pros and cons of using a single bike helmet across various bicycling disciplines.

Litelok claims their new lightweight, axel grinder-resistant U-lock is five times more theft proof than the best performing locks currently on the market.

Edmonton, Alberta is investing $170 million to build 62 miles of new bike lanes. Although some people think the money could be better spent on other things.

A new Dutch ebike promises to last forever, with a modular design that allows you to swap out parts as they become worn or obsolete.

A 34-year old man is riding over 18,000 miles from Thiruvananthapuram, India to London, passing through 35 countries in 450 days.

Bicycles have taken over the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover, as other forms of transportation become impractical or prohibitively expensive.

Bike advocates in Jerusalem are seeing progress in making the ancient, hilly city more welcoming to people on two wheels.

Your next Chinese ped-assist bicycle could be powered with hydrogen instead of electricity.

 

Finally…

The first Harley-Davidson had pedals. Now you, too, can own your very own Bugatti urban bike for a mere $75,000 or so.

And a reminder that refrigerators don’t belong in bike lanes any more than cars do.

https://twitter.com/wildbell/status/1575520496111603712

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Mariah Kandise Banks, killer of Frederick “Woon” Frazier, finally sentenced; Griffith Park car ban is just the beginning

August 22, 2022 / / 3 comments

Before we get started, the LA City Council will consider the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposition at Wednesday’s 10 am council meeting. 

This is an all hands on deck announcement. We’ll have more on this tomorrow, but clear your schedule if at all possible to be there and make every voice heard in support of this vital measure. 

Now buckle in, because we have a lot of ground to cover today. 

,,,,,,,,,

Today’s photo shows a happy corgi enjoying a pedicab ride at yesterday’s CicLAvia, more proof that a good time was had by all. 

Even the four-footed attendees. 

………

Friday finally saw justice served for the killer of Fredrick “Woon” Frazier, as Mariah Kandise Banks was sentenced to four years behind bars for hi hit-and-run death.

She has so far shown no sign of of remorse, and has reportedly been living the high life in the four years since is death, regardless of the impact it had on those left behind.

Woon’s friend Edin Barrientos forwarded the impact statement he wrote on behalf of the Chief Lunes bike crew.

Words To The Judge

I’m here on the behalf of the victim

Frederick Frazier and all the other cyclists /pedestrians killed by reckless drivers. I want to make it clear that the driver who took away Fredericks life back in 2018 was NO accident.

These speeding and reckless drivers who are out on the roads always use their cars as a means to intimidate and run us off the streets.

Every week we here news stories of people getting killed by violent drivers in our city.

It is a big injustice to the victims families and communities like South LA that harsher punishments aren’t being served to these mindless drivers. They don’t see us as equals on the roads and I feel that the Justice System sympathizes with drivers who kill the innocent.

Frederick left behind a loving mother and a baby boy behind who need his emotional and financial support.

Words for The Driver

You took away a father figure, you took away a loving son and a beloved cyclist in a welcoming community.

You deserve to be in jail for 10 years at least.

You tried running away with murder.

You’ve been free for 4 years, having the time of your life while knowingly having blood in your hands.

You’re a monster and monsters don’t deserve any freedom.

  • D.A fought for maximum sentence and was able to get the medium term
  • Charges: Vehicular Man Slaughter & Hit and Run
  • 4 years in State Prison
  • Moriah Banks was handcuffed and taken away by Sherrifs

Meanwhile, our anonymous courtroom corresponded had this to say.

This morning is Mariah Kandise Banks’ sentencing and the victim impact statement hearing. I don’t want to be there. I spoke with Woon’s mama in June and she was on the fence about speaking in court. What good can it do, she wondered. Nothing will ever bring her son back to her. She forgives Banks. I don’t, because I’ve attended her appearances and haven’t seen an iota of remorse. None. She’s just sorry she got caught.

Please pray for Woon’s family today.

………

Our anonymous correspondent goes on to offer updates on multiple cases working their way through the courts.

On June 27th, a woman walking her three dogs was struck by a hit and run driver just two blocks from the site of AJ Brumback’s slaughter. (His little ghost bike and the large memorial are still there on Google Street View). This collision site is also two blocks southwest of Anita Sue Cherry’s last known address, on the corner of Seneca Dr. and Shawnee Rd.

The victim was hospitalized; the dogs are okay.

This echoes the Ali Zohair Fakhreddine case (going to trial next month), in which repeat drunk driver Fakhreddine killed a Newport Beach woman and her dog, then fled. I “watched” his arrest play out across two counties via the continuously updating CHP Live Incident page. Although Fakhreddine led police on a chase in his bloodied car, he was apprehended.

Next Thursday, Alexis Marvin Garcialopez, who killed 80-year-old Ernest Adams, will be arraigned for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Former bank robber Richard David Lavalle, who killed 12-year-old Noel Bascon as he biked in a crosswalk with his dad, has noir dire set for September 30th.

In regards to the recent hit and run death of the cyclist in La Habra, suspect Mario Poppop (the media gave the name as Popsuc, but jail & court records say Poppop) was released on the 15th. He’s charged with a single count of being an accessory after the fact. Since his son, the accused killer, is a juvenile, I’m unable to determine his status.

Still no court date for Amanda Martin, suspected in the hit and run death of Liem Bui near Mile Square Park last January. (Incidentally, only a week after her arrest, there was another major injury collision involving a cyclist near Mile Square.)

Unlicensed drunk driver Johnathan Martinez Aguilar, who fled after he ran down two female bicyclists (one a doctor) on PCH in Newport Beach in 2019, was sentenced on August 9th to 1 year in jail, 5 years of probation, restitution, and a First Offender Alcohol program.

Nicole Lorraine Linton, who killed six on South La Brea, isn’t the only killer driver with substantial mental illness. Ronald Earl Kenebrew, Jr. and Moises Iscaya, both remanded, remain under continued mental health evaluation.

My Favorite Lawyer™ Christien Petersen, the All-American Freedumb Fighter, will be arraigned on his assorted weapons and kidnapping charges on the 26th, and then the Court turns its attention to his drunk driving matter.

Anyway I have more updates than time to write.

………

Evidently, the permanent ban on cars on Griffith Park Drive is just the beginning.

According to LAist, the closure of nearly a mile of the street in Griffith Park to stop commuters from using it as a dangerous cut-through route is just the first phase of the coming safety improvements.

The next phase will involve installing speed humps and speed feedback signs to slow speeding drivers.

That will be followed by creating a road buffet on Crystal Springs Drive, removing a car lane in each direction for new dedicated bike and pedestrian lanes, as well as buffer space for drivers.

This is the street where Andrew Jelmert was killed by an alleged speeding, DUI driver. Whether that would have been enough to keep him alive is questionable, but it’s a good start.

In addition, plans call for bike lanes to Zoo Drive, which is where Finish The Ride and SAFE founder Damian Kevitt was riding when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver, and dragged a quarter mile underneath his van onto the 5 Freeway.

As you can see, the street closure is already creating smiles.

https://twitter.com/abikeist/status/1561188204463529984

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This is who we share the road with.

The son of a 67-year old Azusa man has filed suit over the death of his father, who was killed by an Azusa motorcycle cop who somehow ran him down when he was just crossing the street; it’s unclear whether he was walking or riding a bicycle.

A 17-year old was murdered when he was run down by one or more hit-and-run drivers following a dispute at a warehouse parking lot party in South LA, apparently intentionally; the driver ran him down, then jumped into another vehicle and ran over him again. A crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $5,000 of the $14,000 goal.

A Vancouver woman in her late 60s mistakenly hit the accelerator as she was pulling out of a shared driveway, and plowed into a wedding party, killing two people and injuring ten others, two critically. But police say it was just an “oopsie.”

………

By all accounts, yesterday’s return of the Meet the Hollywoods CicLAvia was a big hit, with a huge morning turnout.

The Los Angeles Daily News offers a nice photo essay, if you can get past their paywall.

https://twitter.com/sumaleedotcom/status/1561499579798851584

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This is a very detailed and insightful submission to Redondo Beach officials, and worth a read for anyone who rides the South Bay.

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Bike Silicon Valley is looking for a new Program Coordinator/Manager who can speak Spanish.

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Congratulations to Chicago, on finding a crappy new way to door bike riders.

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If this doesn’t give you nightmares, you’re officially immune.

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

A Washington man vows to continue riding, after a road rage attack while training for an Ironman triathlon left him confined to a wheelchair.

This is the harm a single determined NIMBY can do, as one neighborhood lawyer appoints himself to halt a fully approved and funded Chicago greenway.

No bias here. A British lawyer welcomes a proposal to require numbers license plates, speed limits and liability insurance for bike riders, saying “bikes cause harm.” Just wait until someone tells him about cars.

No bias here, either. A British paper blares a headline calling bike riders “Red light rats!” after counting 26 bicyclists rolling through a red light in front of Buckingham palace in just one hour — but fails to mention that the road was closed to cars, and police urged riders to keep going through the intersection, regardless of red lights.

A jury in the UK found two men guilty of murder for intentionally running down a rival drug dealer as he was riding a bicycle, and leaving him to die in the street.

A Spanish driver was arrested following ten hours on the run, after he intentionally drove into a group of eight people riding bicycles, killing two and seriously injuring three other riders.

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

Bike riders tragically found themselves on both sides of the gun in Los Angeles this weekend; a woman was fatally shot near Seventh Street and Central Avenue early Sunday morning, after arguing with a man who fled by bicycle following the shooting. Meanwhile, a man riding a bicycle was the victim in a Friday shooting in Echo Park, when another man walked up and shot him as he rode by.

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Local

Streetsblog has more details on the “damning” report showing Metro’s highway building program more than offsets the climate benefits of all their bike, pedestrian and transit programs combined.

Streets For All urges you to complete a survey on LA’s Al Fresco Dining Program, which is currently under review; the program allows restaurants to convert parking spaces to outdoor dining areas, bringing more life to the city’s streetscape.

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton interviews CD11 candidates Traci Park and Erin Darling to get their views on transportation issues as they vie to replace outgoing Councilmember Mike Bonin.

Outside considers the case of 12-year-old Molly Steinsapir, whose family is suing Rad Power Bikes after the girl was killed while riding on the back of a friend’s ebike.

Automotive website MotorBiscuit concludes that the LA-based Cero One is worth the $3,800 price tag if you can afford it, calling it the SUV of ebikes.

Active SGV co-founder Wesley Reutimann writes about the new GoSGV program, calling it the nation’s first ebike subscription program.

 

State 

Maybe you can’t walk on water, but you can pedal across it. An Orange County man is attempting to break a world record by pedaling from Newport Beach to Catalina.

A nine-year old boy was seriously injured when he was struck by a driver in San Diego’s Mountain View neighborhood, suffering multiple fractures, a concussion and facial lacerations.

Kindhearted Fontana cops bought a new bike and birthday supplies for a seven-year old boy, after a thief stole his mom’s purse with the money she had saved for a birthday gift and party.

She gets it. A Santa Barbara op-ed says bikeways nurture cities.

A 45-year old woman was airlifted from the Santa Ynez Valley after suffering a head injury in a bike crash.

Apparently having learned absolutely nothing from the 2013 San Luis Obispo fiasco, Santa Rosa County is planning to refinish 50 miles of roadways with chip seal, making them virtually unridable for months afterwards

Prosecutors charged a 73-year-old Orinda man with felony hit and run for a July crash that left a 41-year old Oakland bike rider with a fractured pelvis.

 

National

Curbed’s Alissa Walker examines why it’s so hard to take a drivers license away from people who clearly shouldn’t have one. Thanks to Ted Faber for the link.

They get it. A Streetsblog op-ed makes the case that slow transportation should be a human right.

A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics sounds the alarm over decreased helmet use by children, as 52% of kids under 18 injured while skateboarding, snowboarding and bicycling weren’t wearing helmets.

Trek is recalling every existing 2021 and 2022 Emonda SLR and 2022 Speed Concept SLR bike over fears the carbon frame could break while riding.

A 60-year old man is in the midst of his 13th bicycle tour across the US to raise awareness of brain injuries; he’s been riding for 15 years and 37,500 miles, and is on his third bicycle and fifth bike trailer.

Redbook recommends nine bike friendly cities you can visit right now, without leaving the US.

State and federal leaders are teaming with bike advocates trying to save an aging bridge over the Potomac to use as a bike bridge when a parallel new bridge opens, despite the insistence of transportation officials that maintaining the bridge is not an option.

 

International

Winnipeg, Manitoba is painting murals on city streets in an effort to slow speeding drivers.

A Toronto paper discovers that some people are choosing to forgo planes, trains and automobile, and take trips by bicycle instead, often aided by ebikes.

The Guardian talks with Brompton’s “evangelist-in-chief,” who is trying to change the world one foldie at a time.

The news isn’t good for Welsh decathlete Ben Gregory, who is in a coma and on life support after fracturing his neck and skull when he was struck by a driver while riding his bicycle last week.

A former UK bouncer has turned himself into a bike-riding vigilante to fight crime, after someone vandalized his car, causing around $1,200 damage.

Doctors with Britain’s National Health Service will now be prescribing bike lessons, bike loans and long walks to improve their patients health.

A teenager appears to have set a new world record by riding his bicycle to 76 British castles in a single week, topping the old record of 67.

The Irish Times considers whether Denmark is Europe’s most bike-friendly country.

 

Competitive Cycling

British cyclist Dan Bigham set a new hour record of 54.723km, topping the 54.526km set by Bradley Wiggins in 2016 — the equivalent of 33,003 miles.

On Sunday, Austrian cyclist Marco Haller was a Hamburger, outsprinting Wout van Aert and Quinten Hermans to win the one Bemer Cyclassics in Hamburg, Germany.

Team leader Richard Carapaz gave his Ineos Grenadiers teammates a scare when the Ecuadoran crashed hard after hitting a cone on a tight corner in Sunday’s stage three of the Vuelta.

The news wasn’t as good for Canada’s Michael Woods, who crashed out of the Vuelta with a concussion.

Swiss mountain bike specialist Mathias Flückiger was suspended pending an investigation after testing positive for the anabolic steroid Zeranol. But the era of doping is over, right? Or are most cyclists just getting away with it?

 

Finally…

Once again, President Biden took a bike ride along the beach, and did not fall off.

And there are a lot worse things you can do with an old bike.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Contact LA city council to support Healthy Streets LA, and CA bill would give up to $5,000 tax credit for carfree households

August 15, 2022 / / Comments Off on Contact LA city council to support Healthy Streets LA, and CA bill would give up to $5,000 tax credit for carfree households

Streets For All is asking everyone to support the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal now that it’s before the Los Angeles City Council.

The council has 20 days to decide whether to adopt the proposal as written or place it on the ballot for the 2024 election.

Or they could adopt their own ordinance, which could include similar language to the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal, but could be change at any time, for any reason, unlike the the ballot measure which would require a vote of the people to modify or repeal.

Your support matters, especially since some advocates have come out against it.

WE NEED YOU:
Tell City Council to adopt Healthy Streets LA!

Last month, we turned in more than 100,000 signatures from residents in every single council district in Los Angeles — the people demanded safer streets, protected bike lanes, and dedicated bus lanes. Yesterday, the City Clerk certified our petition.

Now, it goes to City Council. The City Council has 20 days to decide to adopt our measure as an ordinance, or send it to the ballot to let the voters decide. We already know what voters want. That’s why we need your help to get the city council to adopt us as an ordinance within the next two weeks.

MAKE PUBLIC COMMENT ON THE COUNCIL FILE

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Good news for carfree households.

Let’s hope this one passes.

It could do as much as anything to help get people out of their cars.

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This is who we share the road with.

A New Hampshire truck driver plowed head-on into a group of motorcyclists, killing seven people; a jury let him walk without a day behind bars, though he may be deported to his native Ukraine. Just in case you wondered why people keep dying on our streets. And my apologies to whoever sent this to me; I’m afraid I lost track of it over the weekend.

A Pennsylvania man faces charges after plowing through a crowd gathered to raise funds for victims of a deadly house fire, killing one person and injuring 17, including four critically; he then ran down his own mother with his car and beat her to death with a hammer.

A driver plowed into an Arlington, Virginia pub, injuring 15 people, two critically; people inside described the crash as being like a bomb going off.

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Too many Angelenos learn about our deadly streets the hard way.

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Evidently, Portland drivers can figure out what San Diego drivers couldn’t.

Or didn’t want to.

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Not Just Bikes considers the bakfiets as a car. replacement.

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French illustrator Jean-Jacques Sempé created over one hundred covers for The New Yorker, including many bicycling themed illustrations.

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If anyone has me on their Secret Santa list, I’ll gladly settle for a copy of this painting.

Or the original, even.

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

This is what a punishment pass looks like.

No bias here. A Louisville KY TV station reports, apparently seriously, that a salmon cyclist crashed her bike into the front of a police patrol car, rather than the cops hitting her with their car. That’s like saying “Please accept my apologies for hitting your fist with my nose.”

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

Police in Fort Worth, Texas are looking for a bike-riding man who rode out of the darkness to slash a man’s arm with a machete.

………

Local

Los Angeles Times readers address the recent article about the Healthy Streets LA initiative qualifying for the ballot with surprisingly less vitriol than expected, though one insisted on trotting out the old “this is not Amsterdam” bromide, combined with the myth that its too hot to ride to work in a suit here. Especially since so many Angelenos have ditched their suits post pandemic.

The Times editorial department says you’ll soon have the chance to vote for safer streets.

Treehugger says the high-speed Windsor Hills crash that killed six victims, including a pregnant mother just two weeks from full term, has reignited debate about installing speed limiters in cars.

 

State 

California governor Gaven Newsom has named former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to serve as the state’s first Infrastructure Advisor to identify priority projects and maximize access to federal dollars.

A memorial crowdfunding campaign has raised over $110,000 for the family of Christine Hawk Embree, the 35-year old Carlsbad mother killed by a driver while riding an ebike with her 16-month old daughter; at last check, the fund stood at more than $119,000.

Eight San Diego men set a new team record for riding across the US in five days, two hours and 47 minutes.

Police in Contra Costa County arrested a hit-and-run driver who allegedly killed a 57-year old bike rider, before crashing head-on into another car minutes later.

A new 600-mile hiking and mountain biking trail could help revive dying towns in the Sierras.

 

National

Bike shops couldn’t keep up during the pandemic bike boom, and ended up ordering bikes that weren’t delivered until the after the boom crested; now they’re overflowing with bikes they can’t sell. For some reason, this story wasn’t blocked by the Wall Street Journal’s paywall, though your results may vary. 

Tech Radar offers a ten point checklist on how to safely secure your bike. And adds advice to never buy cheap secondhand bikes from shady sellers.

A Flagstaff, Arizona woman rode her mountain bike 2,700 miles on off-road trails in 51 days — despite being blind.

There is no lower form of human scum than someone who could leave a bike-riding 6-year old Las Vegas boy to die in the street.

That’s more like it. A Beaumont, Texas driver got 12 and a half years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider; his sentence was extended as a repeat offender.

A Wisconsin family brings 17 extra bikes with them to ensure every child can take part in the Green Bay Packer’s tradition of riding borrowed kids bikes to practice.

Christian singer Amy Grant has postponed more concert dates in September and October, as she continues to recover at her Nashville home from being knocked cold falling off her bike.

No, New York City will not be banning cars anytime in the foreseeable future.

The gunman who killed a security guard on the set of Law & Order: Organized Crime in Brooklyn last month apparently stalked the victim using a bicycle.

Someone tossed a heavy bikeshare bike onto the tracks in front of a New York subway train, with predictable results.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Friends remember a Virginia woman who was killed by a teenaged drunk driver while riding with a friend at 7:30 am; the other woman remains hospitalized in critical condition.

President Biden took another bike ride with his family while on vacation in South Carolina. And didn’t fall off this time.

A Miami man carries his 75-pound, sunglass-wearing golden doodle on his back as he rides around his neighborhood.

Kindhearted Florida duputies bought a 13-year old boy “the monster of all bikes” after learning he was depressed over the theft of his bike and the death of his father.

 

International

Road.cc reviews the new book Two Wheels Good – The History and Mystery of the Bicycle, giving it four out of five stars. The website also lists a half-dozen bike upgrades you don’t really need, from high-end gruppos to disc brakes and tubeless tires.

Kindhearted Ottawa, Canada cops dug into their own pockets to buy a new bike for a young kid after the one he received in a charity giveaway was stolen.

Someone may have stolen $3,300 from a bike rider in Trinidad after he was killed in a collision.

A British luxury lifestyle magazine recommends the best places for a biking vacation this fall. And no, nowhere in the US made the cut.

They get it. Officials in Camden, England say new bike lanes will benefit both bike riders and local businesses.

A 34-year old Edinburgh man with terminal motor neurone disease completed a mountainous, 20 hour, 265-mile fundraising ride; in the four years since his diagnosis, he’s raised the equivalent of $181,000 to fight the disease, with another $60,000 pledged for this ride.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a truck driver got just seven months behind bars for killing a 71-year old man riding a bicycle; he played the universal Get Out Of Jail Free card, saying he just didn’t see the victim.

Would you like fries with that? A new documentary tells the story of a Yugoslavian man who ate an entire bicycle in three days. No, really. 

Over 100 bicyclists turned out to mark Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, aka the 75th anniversary of Indian independence.

Nice story from Gabon, where a teacher got tired of watching her students walk for miles to get to school, so she started a company making bamboo bicycles; she already has over 5,000 orders.

You’ve got to be kidding. The new Hermes bicycle sold out in mainland China, despite a price tag over $24,000. Demonstrating that a number of wealthy Chinese have more yuan than sense.

 

Competitive Cycling

Seventy-one-year old Rick Taggart qualified for the US Nationals for his age bracket, despite a high-speed crash in the final mile of a 76-mile race that left him with a broken collarbone; he somehow managed to finish the race anyway.

Pez Cycling News takes a look at seven of the world’s “most challenging, weirdest bike races.”

 

Finally…

That feeling when your bike breaks during a 1,000-mile audax, so you ride into the nearest town, buy a new frame and build up a new one to finish the ride. We may have to deal with LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about getting kicked in the head by a deer doing a high jump. 

And evidently, Napoleon was one of us, too.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

This is the cost of traffic violence — Six innocent victims killed in fiery, high-speed Windsor Hills crash

August 5, 2022 / / 8 comments

Sometimes the news is so bad, I don’t even want to write about it.

Or anything else, for that matter.

That’s the case today, after six innocent people were killed, and eight injured, by a speeding driver who ran a red light in LA’s Windsor Hills neighborhood yesterday afternoon.

The driver, reported to be a traveling nurse in her 40s, was traveling at an excessive rate of speed when she blew through the stop light at La Brea and Slauson directly into heavy cross traffic.

One of the cars immediately exploded into a fireball, as witnesses described bodies and debris raining into a gas station on the opposite corner.

At least six vehicles were involved in the crash, with one victim found inside a burned-out car hours later.

The victims included a pregnant woman; both she and her baby were killed, along with another infant.

The injured included several other children, ranging in age from 13 months to 15-years old.

The driver was hospitalized with serious injuries, and being held in custody as she receives treatment. At least one report indicated she wasn’t tested for drugs or alcohol, because they wouldn’t have shown up after the emergency medications she received at the scene and in the ER.

As others have noted, the design of the wide, multilane intersection and straight roadways engineered for high-speed traffic have to be seen as major contributory factors, along with cars capable of exceeding the speed limit to such a degree.

The technology exists to reign in speeding drivers; we just refuse to use it. And fail to demand it.

On a personal note, I have only watched the video above a single time. But that’s all it took to burn it into my consciousness; I’ve been unable to stop seeing that image as it plays over and over in my head.

And with it comes a renewed sense of failure and despair. I’ve been working for safer streets for a decade and a half now, while others have struggled for much longer. We’ve all seen decades of promises from city officials to do something.

But it’s always too little, too late. If they do anything at all.

LA’s Vision Zero program will be seven years old later this month, just three years from that magic date when we were promised traffic deaths would be eliminated, once and for all. Instead, they have steadily increased, with bike riders and pedestrians paying a disproportionate cost.

La Brea was one of the the first streets identified as part of the city’s High Injury Network, and should have seen significant efforts to tame traffic violence.

Yet it has been allowed to languish as an over-designed, high-speed car sewer. And now six people have paid the price for that inaction in a single fiery incident.

Six innocent people.

We’re bound to hear more about it in the days to come, as city officials mourn the victims and make more promises that they will inevitably fail to fulfill.

I’m disgusted and angry with it all.

I hope you are, too.

We’ll be back on Monday with our usual Morning Links. But right now, I don’t even want to think about it.

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Nine injured when LA driver jumps curb, LA County considers cutting speed limits, and leaving drivers in your dust

June 13, 2022 / / Comments Off on Nine injured when LA driver jumps curb, LA County considers cutting speed limits, and leaving drivers in your dust

Today’s common theme is the recognition that people aren’t safe from drivers anywhere.

Like the nine people who were injured in LA’s Westlake District Saturday morning when a driver jumped the curb at Wilshire and Alvarado, plowing through pedestrians and street vendors gathered on the sidewalk.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Police discounted the driver’s claim that he lost control when someone pointed a gun at him.

Or the two people who were killed, including an eight-year old boy, and another woman injured, when a speeding motorcyclist went off the shoulder of a New York State roadway and slammed into a group of pedestrians standing on a bike path.

Seriously, something is wrong when people who aren’t even in the roadway still aren’t safe from drivers and their deadly machines.

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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will consider a motion tomorrow to reduce speed limits on some streets.

https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1535466515981488128

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More proof that driving usually isn’t the best way of getting there.

Wherever there is.

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BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette offers a brief recap of Saturday’s Giro Di San Diego Grab Fondo.

IMG_2487.jpg

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Great idea from the UK. Now let’s do it here.

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

No bias here. A Scottish automotive journalist is calling for bike riders to be required to have compulsory training, licenses and insurance before being allowed on the road, apparently confusing the risk to others posed by cars for the negligible risk posed by someone on a bicycle.

No bias here, either. A gay Londoner was snubbed by his date after he arrived on a bicycle. If the guy can’t appreciate a bike, he’s better off without him.

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

A New York resident took matters into their own hands, posting DIY signs to remind scofflaw bike riders not to ride on the sidewalk. Not to mention skaters, rollerbladers, scooter and skateboard riders.

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Local

No news is good news, right?

 

State 

Heartbreaking news from La Jolla, where a 90-year old man was killed riding an e-scooter when he was struck by an 80-year old driver. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive.

Now you can be the proud owner of 20 years worth of classic T-shirts from the Redlands Classic, with all 58 shirts for just twenty bucks.

 

National

People For Bikes’ Final Mile program proves that cities can build out bike networks faster, more efficiently and more equitably, with Austin, Texas and Denver, Colorado building over 100 miles of bike lanes in just two years.

Electrek says you can buy an ebike on Amazon for the cost of five tanks of gas if you own a truck or SUV, or seven if you own a car. Or less of you live in California. You’ll probably be happier, too.

Forbes recommends what they say may be the best ebike for under $1,400.

Portland unveiled a new bicycle ambulance based on a Tern e-cargo bike. Although the lawn chair bolted onto a wooden bike trailer to transport patients leaves something to be desired. 

The last remaining segment of Seattle’s oldest long bike path just turned 125 years old.

Good idea. A Utah law allows bike riders to sue in small claims court for up to $11,000 to force insurance companies to quickly replace bicycles damaged in collisions for their full value, without affecting the victim’s right to file a separate injury claim.

A tragic warning to use extra caution in hot weather, as a Colorado man died after running out of water while riding a mountain bike trail in 100° weather; three other riders who tried to help him had to be rescued when they ran out of water, too.

A Colorado man lovingly restored the 1982 Colnago owned by the late Breaking Away and American Flyers screenwriter Steve Tesich, who passed away in 1996.

The manhunt — or woman hunt, in this case — continues for Kaitlin Marie Armstrong in the shooting death of elite gravel cyclist Mariah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas last month.

Hundreds of bicyclists and pedestrians gathered with community leaders to demand safer streets in Chicago, after a two-year old boy was killed crossing the street on a scooter, and a three-year old girl was killed riding on the back of her mother’s bike.

A volunteer firefighter in Upstate New York was the victim of a hit-and-run driver as he rode his bike to respond to a call; fortunately, he was uninjured, but his bike, not so much.

Thirty-nine year old Semmie Williams was found competent to stand trial in the stabbing death of a 14-year old Florida boy who went missing after going out for a bike ride, despite Williams previous diagnosis of schizophrenia.

 

International

A Vancouver man is dead after an exploding ebike battery caused him to fall off a window ledge.

London’s edition of the World Naked Bike Ride drew over 1,000 people riding nine different routes to call for better safety, while keeping photo editors at the tabloids busy blurring the naughty bits.

Led by a Kharkiv priest, 20 Good Samaritans are riding bikes to deliver food and medicine to 700 elderly residents of the devastated Ukrainian city.

A 44-year old South African man will spend the next 25 years behind bars for the murder of former South African cycling champion Etienne van Wyk; the brutal crime went unsolved for 15 years.

A young Indonesian man arrived in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj, following a 3,600-mile journey by bicycle to visit Islam’s Three Holy Mosques.

Three bicyclists were hospitalized, one in the ICU, when a drunk driver slammed into a group of 14 riders in Singapore; the driver was arrested for DUI.

Sad news from Thailand, where a well-known Thai bike rider was killed when he was struck by the driver of a semi, who claimed he never saw him; 53-year old Nirantra Phramthong gained famed after riding through several countries.

 

Competitive Cycling

Slovenian pro Primož Roglič set the stage for next month’s Tour de France by winning the Criterium du Dauphine stage race on Sunday.

Colombian cyclist Juan Sebastián Molano was disqualified from the Dauphine for punching another rider in the head at 43 mph, then continuing the dispute — and the punching — after crossing the finish line.

Italian road champ Elisa Longo Borghini refuses to get caught up in the hype, saying it’s great that there’s now a women’s Tour de France, but it’s just a bike race like any other anywhere else.

Thirty-two-year old Russian pro Ilnur Zakarin called it a career after his Gazprom-RusVelo team shut down following the ban on Russian cycling teams.

Former pro Peter Stetina claimed the Asheville NC Belgian Waffle Ride, while Sarah Max won the women’s race after a disappointing finish in the Unbound Gravel race.

 

Finally…

Your toddler can now ride his or her own electric Kawasaki. Maybe don’t trust someone named Scurvy to deliver your new beach cruiser.

And evidently, a bicycle is something a gorilla shouldn’t monkey with.

Although maybe he just needs a better bike fit.

https://twitter.com/IfsSamrat/status/1534384931698364416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1534384931698364416%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.firstpost.com%2Findia%2Fgorilla-rides-a-bicycle-throws-it-away-after-falling-off-video-leaves-netizens-in-splits-10783261.html

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Riverside driver kills own son with vision-blocking SUV, and tell Metro to stop wasting money widening highways

May 24, 2022 / / One comment

This is who we share the road with.

And what, unfortunately.

Heartbreaking news from Riverside County, where a father ran over his own son in his own driveway as he was coming home from work, killing him.

Apparently, the boy was playing next to the gate and ran into the driveway to greet his father, where the grill of the man’s massive Chevy Tahoe SUV may have blocked his view of the one-year old boy.

It’s one of the most absurdly needless dangers we all face on the road, as the ever-increasing size of SUVs and pickups can block the driver’s view of anything directly in front of them, up to and sometimes including grown adults on bicycles.

https://twitter.com/DrTCombs/status/1528853211582455814

Their high, flat grills also make it more likely that anyone the drivers hit will be knocked down in front of the wheels, increasing their risk of getting run over by a nearly three ton vehicle.

So if you’re looking for a reason why pedestrian deaths continue to spike, you can start right there.

There’s simply no excuse for allowing machines that are literally designed to kill to use our public roadways.

Photo by Abdulwahab Alawadhi from Pexels.

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Streets For All reminds everyone to tell Metro to stop wasting billions on demand-inducing highway widening projects this Thursday.

This Thursday: Tell Metro to cancel the 710 widening and stop spending billions to widen more highways!

This Thursday, the Metro board on its agenda (#9) will consider a motion to formally kill the 710 freeway widening project, and to develop a local project investment plan that includes transit and active transportation improvements.

Despite this, the board will also consider approving a budget (item #15) that allocates billions of dollars more to widen yet more highways, often based on lies told by Metro staff.

We know that widening the freeway will only induce demand and is Destruction For Nada, and Metro needs to reallocate funding and priorities based on this proven fact.

If you’re able to call in (Thursday at 10am) and make public comment, this is most impactful. If not, send the board an email.

BEST > Call in and make public comment (5.26 @ 10am)

Email Public Comment

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Today’s common theme is advances in bike lighting and security.

New clipless pedals from Redshift Sports come with built-in front and rear facing lights to improve safety, with the rotational movement of the pedal more likely to draw attention than a stationary light; the lights turn on and off automatically, and always know which direction they’re facing.

A new Schwinn ebike comes with a built-in frame light, while a new longtail foldie ebike from Calendar Bikes actually glows in the dark.

Wing Bikes new VanMoof knockoff ebike comes with a built-in Apple Find My network tracker to keep tabs on your bike.

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Looks like progressive talk radio host Stephanie Miller is one of us.

Thanks to Mike Burk and the Smiling Corgis for the heads-up. 

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Either Bob Dylan is one of us, or he just found a beat up old bike to pose with.

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1528948908763643904

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Here’s your chance to learn planning and design the Dutch way.

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Oopsie.

https://twitter.com/HoodFamousTV_/status/1528059154539360258?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1528059154539360258%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-23-may-2022-292953

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

No bias here. A Houston letter writer insists bicycles should be licensed so bike riders will help pay for planned new bikeways. Never mind that people who ride bikes pay taxes just like everyone else, while studies show a bike license program would cost more to administer than it would bring in.

Horrific video from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where a driver swerved into a bike lane and ran down several bike riders, in a crash that appears to be anything but accidental; fortunately, none of the victims, all of whom were riding in the bike lane, were seriously injured.

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Local

Los Angeles was the nation’s second most deadly city for bike riders in the past decade, coming in just behind New York, as bicycling fatalities continue to rise; Los Angeles County led the nation with 276 deaths from 2011 to 2020.

 

State 

Sad news from Madera, where a man riding a Huffy beach cruiser was killed by a hit-and-run driver who lost control of his car while making an unsafe turn, swerving off the roadway onto the dirt shoulder where the victim was riding.

Extreme endurance cyclist Grant Lottering is planning a 700-mile nonstop ride from Central California’s Shaver Lake to Irvine, including 63,000 feet of elevation gain, to raise awareness of a charity using sports to help children and young people overcome violence, discrimination and disadvantages.

 

National

It was nice while it lasted. Just a year after acquiring Peloton, Outside has axed the magazine, as well as mountain bike startup Beta; the publishing company also terminated some editorial staff members at CyclingTips and VeloNews, as it transitions from print to online.

The Navajo Nation is working on a 60-mile rail-to-trail conversion, which would be the first such bikeway on native lands in the US.

A 29-year old Idaho man pledged to do whatever it takes to become a better man, after he was sentenced to seven and a half years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a bike-riding man; he was smoking heroin when police took him into custody.

Bicycling looks inside the Major Taylor display at the Indiana State Museum. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

A “burrito ministry” using bicycles to deliver food to homeless people in Nashville and Memphis twice a week is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Nice piece from the New Yorker, as a university professor takes a very personal look at the history of bicycling, from the first Laufmaschine to the pandemic bike boom, noting that a toddler who starts on a balance bike can experience virtually every type of historic bike as they grow up.

A Republican sponsored bill would legalize parking protected bike lanes in Pennsylvania.

A Miami weekly considers three ways to improve safety on the deadly Rickenbacker Causeway, where a bike-riding couple was killed by a dozing driver.

 

International

The New York Times highlights seven great bicycling cities, along with the best bike trail to ride in each one, from Geneva to Bogota, and San Francisco to New York and DC.

Famed Irish travel writer Dervla Murphy has died, after making a career of traveling the world by bicycle, foot, pack pony or public transport; she first came to fame with a book about bicycling from Ireland to India in 1965. She was 90 years old. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

An Irish website recommends five bucket list worthy bike routes to explore the Emerald Isle.

A British man has died two weeks after his bicycle was stuck by a ped-assist ebike.

Differences in speeds are leading to conflicts between different types of bike riders on Brussels bikeways.

Bicycling crashes have dropped significantly in Amsterdam after e-scooters were banned from the city’s bike lanes.

A New Zealand university professor says ignore the bikelash, because the benefits of investing in bicycling far exceed the cost.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Italy, where the sports director of the Viris Vigevano cycling team was killed when he was struck by a rider as he was watching the conclusion of the Trofeo Castelfidardo race in Italy’s Marche region.

Dutch pro Ellen van Dijk is the new women’s hour record holder, covering 49.254 km — the equivalent of 30.605 miles — at Switzerland’s Gretchen velodrome.

CyclingTips profiles Ally Wollaston, a New Zealand track cyclist making her mark on the women’s WorldTour.

Friends and family members remember Moriah “Mo” Wilson, the gravel cyclist fatally shot in a love triangle murder in Austin, Texas earlier this month.

 

Finally…

Who needs a tandem when you can ride a bicycle built for seven? Now you, too, can have a vintage 1946 Bianchi racing bike owned by four-time Giro winner Luigi Casola, for a mere 27 grand.

And what do you do when a YouTube star slams a rented Tesla into your car trying to catch air on one of the steepest streets in Los Angeles?

You write a song about it, of course.

Thanks to LAPD Central Traffic Division for the link.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Only bike mechanic in US Congress retires, Beemer-blocking bollards, and Metro reconsiders bikeshare today

December 2, 2021 / / One comment

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

Thanks to Glenn C and Erick H for their generous donations to help keep SoCal’s best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

Don’t wait. Give now via PayPal, or with Zelle to ted @ bikinginla.com.

Any amount, no matter how large or small, is truly and deeply appreciated. 

So what are you waiting for?

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Leadership of the US House Transportation Committee will be changing hands, as one of the chamber’s most bike-friendly members retires.

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This is who we share the road with.

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

No bias here. Once again, a bicycle rider has been killed by a seemingly sentient truck, which apparently operated without having anyone behind the wheel. Or maybe a Kentucky TV station just forgot to mention them.

London’s transportation department is forced to pull an ad calling for greater understanding on the streets amid accusations of victim blaming by bike riders, after a driver and a bicyclist metaphorically kiss and make up when the former nearly kills the latter.

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Local

The Source offers a preview of today’s Metro Board Meeting, focusing on policing contracts for Metro trains and buses; among the “also on the agenda” items is a motion to develop plans to improve the Metro Bike bikeshare program.

Los Angeles awards 14 community grants for beautification projects, including a proposal to landscape the LA River bike path along the river’s headwaters.

 

State

Berkeley ends its 4.2-mile Slow Streets program, apparently concluding people no longer need safe and healthy places to walk and ride.

A Redding man suffered major injuries when he was struck by an SUV, after multiple witnesses reported he was riding recklessly, weaving around vehicles and riding his bike on the wrong side of the road.

 

National

A Las Vegas sports business website says the best way to explore Utah’s Zion National Park is by bicycle.

Forbes profiles the 25-year old founders of Phoenix-based, sub-$1,000 direct-to-consumer brand Lectric eBikes.

Scottish bicyclist Josh Quigley returns to Texas to resume his around-the-world journey, two years after he was nearly killed when a driver ran him down fro behind.

If you’re visiting Milwaukee this weekend, look out for hundreds of bike-riding Santas. And yes, they’re all the real Santa. So get over it, kid.

New York unveils a glossy new transportation plan, with a city commitment to building 250 miles of protected bike lanes over the next five years — and hopes that it can somehow come up with the money to pay for it. On the other hand, how many miles of protected bike lanes has Los Angeles committed to over the same time period — with or without current funding?

LA’s Tamika Butler, Justin Williams and Peter Flax discuss the need for another Major Taylor moment in the final episode of the Chasing History video series, about the founding of the first cycling team at a Historically Black College or University, representing North Carolina’s St. Augustine’s University.

Kindhearted Jacksonville, Florida deputies replaced a young girl’s bicycle after it was mangled when a pursuit suspect came to a stop on top of it on her front lawn.

An arrest has been made in the murder of a 14-year old Palm Beach, Florida boy who disappeared while riding his bike; more information should be available later today.

 

International

Banff, Alberta wants to help residents reduce their carbon footprint with a proposed new ebike rebate program.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A 76-year old woman in London, Ontario collided with another driver after allegedly running a red light, and slammed into a group of ten people walking on the sidewalk, eight of them children; one young girl was killed. And all the driver appeared to care about was whether she was going to be arrested. Let’s hope so.

Even a former Welsh rugby star can be the victim of a bike thief.

This is why people keep dying on the streets. A speeding British driver who killed a motorcyclist walked with no jail time after the judge concluded he was already punishing himself. Seriously? Remind me to use that excuse if I ever shoot someone.

The four largest cities in the Netherlands are asking the country’s parliament to improve safety by lowering the speed limit to 30 kph, the equivalent of 18 mph.

A woman in the Ivory Coast is using an exercise bike to produce artisanal chocolate from locally sourced cocoa beans.

The South African mountain kingdom of Lesotho is slowly building a mountain biking culture, following the introduction of the six-day Lesotho Sky mountain bike race a decade ago.

Endgadget says a new Chinese-made ebike is more like a computer on wheels, even if some of the promised feature are still vaporware.

 

Competitive Cycling

An all-female group of cyclists will represent athletes on the board of USA Cycling, with the selection of Cari Higgins, Meredith Miller and Maddie Godby joining current board member Alison Tetrick; VeloNews talks with Godby about her new role.

Another round of track racing at the Velo Sports Center in Carson this weekend. Thanks to David Huntsman for the heads-up.

 

Finally…

Note to DOTs — when you install new bike lanes, take down the signs allowing parking first. Your next ebike could have a corkscrew downtube.

And Mathieu van der Poel and his Alpecin-Fenix teammates demonstrate their lack of acting skills in a sponsor video described as “cringeworthy.”

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

 

 

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