Before we get started, I hope you’ll join me in thanking Cohen Law Partners for renewing their ad and their support for another year.
Looking back, they’ve helped sponsor this site for 13 years now.
It’s their support, and that of our other sponsors, that allows me to keep bringing this site your way every day.
………
Now that’s more like it.
I saw this Tennessee license plate while riding in my wife’s car in West Hollywood on Sunday. And could only wish we had something like it in California.
A Bicycle Awareness license plate was in the works a few years back, but to the best of my knowledge, it ever got enough pre-orders to go into production, though I’d love to be corrected on that.
But even that wouldn’t directly address the three-foot passing law, or any other specific bike safety laws, like specifying our right to take the lane in most cases.
But we can hope, I guess.
………
WTF?
Patch offers a muddled, barely comprehensible look at the rise of ebikes, focusing primarily on enforcement and injuries, while not only conflating the usual ped-assist bikes and e-motorbikes, but also tossing e-scooters into the mix while they’re at it.
In fact, they offer only one sentence addressing the difference between legal ebikes and illegal e-motos.
Law enforcement and researchers alike caution that rising injury numbers mirror the explosion in ridership. Still, confusion between legal e-bikes and higher-powered “e-motos” continues to complicate enforcement and policy. That confusion has triggered a wave of legislation.
That’s it.
Then there’s this, as they loop older, helmetless e-scooter jockeys into the mix.
Because they can, I guess.
Not all accidents or scofflaws involve children or teens. On Wednesday a 61-year-old Petaluma man traveling on the wrong side of a sidewalk on an electric scooter without a helmet collided with a pedestrian. However, accidents are more common among youth. And a study by the Mineta Institute reported that existing evidence points to a wide variety of people using electric bicycles for transportation, including children, older adults, and people with disabilities. The study’s authors also noted that electric bicycle patients 65-years and older had both the highest hospitalization rate and highest head injury rate.
They also say a part of the problem is a lack of age limits, while failing to mention that California passed a law last year allowing cities to ban ebikes for younger riders, and faster e-mopeds and e-motos require a license.
And that Class 3 ebikes are limited to riders over 16 — as are e-scooters and hoverboards, for that matter.
But the last half of the piece is devoted entirely to a debate over Lamorinda Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s AB 1942, which would require visible licenses for all ebikes, and Encintas State Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s SB 1167, which creates a clear distinction between ebikes and e-motos, while banning deceptive advertising promoting the latter.
In case anyone needs a refresher, here is how ebikes are currently classified under California law.
Meanwhile, a retired lawyer and ebike advocate examines and rates the many ebike bills in the state legislature, reserving the highest praise for Blakespear’s bill, while giving Bauer-Kahan’s the most criticism.
PeopleForBikes had praise for Blakespear’s bill, too.
And rightly so, on both counts.
………
Streetsblog LA’s “This Week in Livable Streets” is always a must read to keep up on all the meetings and events happening each week in safer streets and livable communities, as well as our own wonderful world of bicycles.
This week’s listing is even more indispensable than usual, including:
- A one-week screening of the safer streets doc Changing Lanes,
- Input meetings SCAG’s Planning for Main Streets
- A meeting to discuss Pasadena’s Vision Plan for removing the city’s 710 stub
- Listening sessions to help shape Metro’s overall governance structure
- And the annual Tour de Watts
………
You’re kidding, right?
Kentucky’s AAA offers advice to drivers and bicyclists on how to operate safely around one another, which consists only of riding in the same direction as traffic and obeying traffic signals for people on bikes, while drivers should avoid getting too close to bike lanes, and both should minimize distractions.
So apparently, the people in the big, dangerous machines don’t have to obey traffic signals or pass safely if someone on a bike isn’t in a bike lane.
Never mind all the other little things like not speeding, not driving distracted as long as you minimize the distractions, or even swigging some swill before getting behind the wheel.
And bike riders are free to do all kinds of stupid and potentially dangerous things, as long as they don’t ride salmon and stop for red lights.
Got it.
………
Gravel Bike California rides the Redlands Strada Rossa XII(4K).
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A 64-year old Pennsylvania driver tried to blame the victim, despite facing charges for a road rage incident in which he allegedly tried to brake check a kid on a bicycle before intentionally ramming them with his car, saying the crash never would have happened if the kid just stayed in his lane, and hadn’t tried to “purposely upset him.”
Police in Florida went out of their way not to blame an elderly driver for a collision that injured two triathletes, using the most passive language possible by reporting that “The driver and bicyclists ‘did not identify” each other ‘until the crash was unavoidable'” — even though the 74-year old driver right-hooked them on a lane that was supposed to be closed to traffic.
Resistant landowners have held up 117 miles of carfree bikeways across the UK, sometime for decades, forcing advocates to develop a new toolkit to help rural communities find a solution.
………
Local
Streetsblog’s Damien Newton catches up on Joe Linton’s second lawsuit over the city’s efforts to drive a truck through imagined loopholes in Measure HLA, as well as the latest round of denied appeals.
Visit California explains how to get around Los Angeles without a car, but somehow forgets to mention walking or riding a bike. Or even renting a damn scooter, for that matter.
State
Bakersfield cops escalated the usual crackdown on bicycle rideouts by making a number of arrests, including kids as young as 14, when a crowd of mostly teens took over a parking lot, then a roadway after police ordered them to disperse.
National
Gadget Review correctly notes that a good bike fit matters more than whether you invest in a separate seat for each cheek.
PeopleForBikes has developed a new toolkit to help companies in the bicycle industry improve conditions for bikes in their own backyards. Which is great if the companies care enough to use it; too many have no interest in getting involved, even if it helps their own businesses.
A pair of Navy vets plan to ride from California to Shanksville, Pennsylvania and on to New York City to mark the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, while benefitting the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. California is a big place, though, so maybe they should mention where they’ll be leaving from.
There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for anyone who’d drive off and leave a seriously injured kid lying in the road, like this Ohio hit-and-run driver who’s facing his second OVI — the equivalent of a DUI — in ten years after running down a child riding a bicycle.
Princeton University is banning all ebikes from campus, unless you can prove you’re an off-campus commuter.
Heartbreaking news from Spartanburg, South Carolina, where two kids were killed by an alleged drunken, unlicensed driver violating the open container law; the victims, just 9 and 12-years old, were riding their bikes on the sidewalk when the driver jumped the curb.
Great idea. Baton Rouge, Louisiana is holding its 8th Annual 8th Pedaling for Peace Bike Ride this Friday to honor crime victims and promote peace, unity, and positive community engagement through bicycling.
International
Before we get started, I hope you’ll join me in thanking Cohen Law Partners for renewing their ad and their support for another year.
Looking back, they’ve helped sponsor this site for 13 years now. Their support, and that of our other sponsors, is how I can continue to keep bringing this your way every day.
………
Now that’s more like it.
I saw this Tennessee license plate while riding in my wife’s car in West Hollywood on Sunday. And could only wish we had something like this in California.
A Bicycle Awareness license plate was in the works a few years back, but I don’t think it ever got enough pre-orders to go into production, though I’d love to be corrected on that.
But even that wouldn’t directly address the three-foot passing law, or any other specific bike safety laws, like specifying the right to take the lane.
But we can hope, I guess.
………
WTF?
Patch offers a muddled, barely comprehensible look at the rise of ebikes, while focusing primarily on enforcement and injuries, and conflating not only the usual ped-assist bikes and e-motorbikes, but tossing e-scooters into the mix while they’re at it.
In fact, they offer only one sentence addressing legal ebikes and illegal e-motos.
Law enforcement and researchers alike caution that rising injury numbers mirror the explosion in ridership. Still, confusion between legal e-bikes and higher-powered “e-motos” continues to complicate enforcement and policy. That confusion has triggered a wave of legislation.
That’s it.
Then there’s this, as they loop older, helmetless e-scooter jockeys into the mix.
Because they can, I guess.
Not all accidents or scofflaws involve children or teens. On Wednesday a 61-year-old Petaluma man traveling on the wrong side of a sidewalk on an electric scooter without a helmet collided with a pedestrian. However, accidents are more common among youth. And a study by the Mineta Institute reported that existing evidence points to a wide variety of people using electric bicycles for transportation, including children, older adults, and people with disabilities. The study’s authors also noted that electric bicycle patients 65-years and older had both the highest hospitalization rate and highest head injury rate.
They also say a part of the problem is a lack of age limits, while failing to mention that California passed a law last year allowing cities to ban ebikes for younger riders, and faster ebikes require a license.
And that Class 3 ebikes are limited to riders over 16 — as are e-scooters and hoverboards, for that matter.
But the last half of the piece is devoted entirely to a debate over Lamorinda Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s AB 1942, which would require visible licenses for all ebikes, and Encintas State Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s SB 1167, which would create a clear distinction between ebikes and e-motos, while banning deceptive advertising regarding the latter.
In case anyone needs a refresher, here is how ebikes are currently classified under California law.
Meanwhile, a retired lawyer and ebike advocate examines and rates the many ebike bills in the state legislature, reserving the highest praise for Blakespear’s bill, while giving Bauer-Kahan’s the most criticism.
PeopleForBikes had praise for Blakespear’s bill, too.
And rightly so.
………
Streetsblog’s “This Week in Livable Streets” is always a must read to keep up on all the meetings and events happening each week in safer streets and livable communities, as well as our own world of bicycles.
This week’s listing is even more indispensable than usual, including:
- A one-week screening of the safer streets doc Changing Lanes,
- Input meetings SCAG’s Planning for Main Streets
- A meeting to discuss Pasadena’s Vision Plan for removing the city’s 710 stub
- Listening sessions to help shape Metro’s overall governance structure
- And the annual Tour de Watts
………
You’re kidding, right?
Kentucky’s AAA offers advice to drivers and bicyclists on how to operate safely around one another, which consists only of riding in the same direction as traffic and obeying traffic signals for people on bikes, while drivers should avoid getting too close to bike lanes, and both should minimize distractions.
So apparently, the people in the big, dangerous machines don’t have to obey traffic signals or pass safely if someone on a bike isn’t in a bike lane.
Never mind all the other little things like not speeding, not driving distracted as long as you minimize the distractions, and go ahead and swig a few gallons of booze before you drive.
And bike riders are free to do all kinds of stupid and potentially dangerous things, as long as they don’t ride salmon and stop for red lights.
Got it.
………
Gravel Bike California rides the Redlands Strada Rossa XII(4K).
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A 64-year old Pennsylvania driver tried to blame the victim, despite facing charges a road rage incident in which he allegedly tried to brake check a kid on a bicycle before intentionally ramming them with his car, saying the crash never would have happened if the kid just stayed in his lane, and hadn’t tried to “purposely upset him.”
Police in Florida go out of their way not to blame an elderly driver for a collision that injured two triathletes, by using the most passive language possible, reporting that “The driver and bicyclists ‘did not identify” each other ‘until the crash was unavoidable'” — even though the 74-year old driver right hooked them on a lane that was supposed to be closed to traffic.
Resistant landowners have held up 117 miles of carfree bikeways across the UK, sometime for decades, forcing advocates to develop a new toolkit to help rural communities find a solution.
………
Local
Streetsblog’s Damien Newton catches up on Joe Linton’s second lawsuit over the city’s efforts to drive a truck through imagined loopholes in Measure HLA, as well as the latest round of denied appeals.
Visit California explains how to get around Los Angeles without a car, but only focuses on Metro, and forgets to mention you can also walk or take a bike. Or even rent a scooter, for that matter.
State
Bakersfield cops escalated the usual crackdown on bicycle rideouts by making a number of arrests, including kids as young as 14, when a crowd of mostly teens took over a parking lot, then a roadway when police ordered them to disperse.
National
Gadget Review correctly notes that a good bike fit matters more than whether you invest in a split seat.
PeopleForBikes has developed a new toolkit to help companies in the bicycle industry improve conditions for bikes in their own backyards. Which is great if they care enough to use it; too many bike shops and manufacturers have no interest in getting involved, even though they all should.
A pair of Navy vets plans to ride from California to Shanksville, Pennsylvania and on to New York City to mark the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, while benefitting the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Although California is a big place, so they might want to mention where they’re leaving from.
There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for anyone who’d drive off and leave a seriously injured kid lying in the road, like this Ohio hit-and-run driver who’s facing his second OVI — the equivalent of a DUI — in ten years after running down a child riding a bicycle.
Princeton University is banning all ebikes from campus, unless you can prove you’re an off-campus commuter.
Heartbreaking news from Spartanburg, South Carolina, where two kids were killed by an alleged drunken, unlicensed driver with an open container in his car; the victims, just 9 and 12-years old, were riding their bikes on the sidewalk when the driver jumped the curb.
Great idea. Baton Rouge, Louisiana is holding its 8th Annual 8th Pedaling for Peace Bike Ride this Friday to honor crime victims and promote peace, unity, and positive community engagement through bicycling.
International
The Guardian offers advice on how to perform basic maintenance on your bike to help fight rising fuel costs.
A town in Norfolk, England is being criticized for spending nearly $700,000 to build a mile-long bike lane, which has supposedly made it less safe by narrowing the street, even though that’s been shown to slow drivers while improving safety for everyone — although bicyclists have a legitimate complaint because haven’t kept delivery drivers from blocking them.
British cycling hero Sir Chris Hoy completed his first ride since his leg was shattered in a “horror crash” while riding his bike in November; Hoy is still suffering from stage 4 prostate cancer.
Swiss bicyclist Adrien Liechti has completed his 10,700 mile ride from Africa’s northernmost point to its southernmost point, crossing 17 countries with nearly 390,000 feet of elevation gain, in just 96 days — despite a two week stay in a Congolese jail.
Aussies are ditching their cars and buying bicycles and ebike subscriptions as gas prices spike, thanks largely to our war with Iran. Cloud, meet tiny little silver lining.
Former world champ and Olympic medalist Rohan Dennis is criticizing the media for creating a false narrative over the death of his wife, Australian Olympian Melissa Hoskins in 2023, even though he pled guilty to recklessness for driving off as she was clinging to his car, although he was not held criminally responsible.
Competitive Cycling
USA Cycling lists the winners on the final day of the national paracycling championships.
The Athletic takes a deep dive into how Wout van Aert overcame a career full of scars to win Paris-Roubaix; van Aert dedicated his win to former teammate and friend Michael Goolaerts, who died of a heart attack during the 2018 race.
The AP correctly notes we’re living in a golden age of cycling, with “weekly brilliance and once-in-a-lifetime rivalries,” thanks to Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard. And you can add Demi Vollering, Lorena Wiebes, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and the incomparable Marianne Vos, as well.
Australian cyclist Luke Durbridge is calling it a career after 14 years on the pro tour, all with the same team.
L39ION of Los Angeles pro Eder Frayre won the men’s elite Redding Classic general classification, while Lauren Stephens of Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment won the women’s GC title.
Finally…
What good’s a bike lane when it’s full of trucks. That feeling when it’s the guy on the bike who’s busted for DUI after a crash.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
A town in Norfolk, England is being criticized for spending nearly $700,000 to build a mile-long bike lane, which has supposedly made it less safe by narrowing the street, even though that’s been shown to slow drivers while improving safety for everyone; although bicyclists have a legitimate complaint because the city hasn’t kept delivery drivers from blocking the lane.
British cycling hero Sir Chris Hoy completed his first ride since his leg was shattered in a “horror crash” while riding his bike in November; Hoy is still suffering from stage 4 prostate cancer.
Swiss bicyclist Adrien Liechti has completed his 10,700 mile ride from Africa’s northernmost point to its southernmost point, crossing 17 countries with nearly 390,000 feet of elevation gain in just 96 days — despite a two week stay in a Congolese jail.
Aussies are ditching their cars and buying bicycles and ebike subscriptions as gas prices spike, thanks largely to our war with Iran. Cloud, meet tiny little silver lining.
Competitive Cycling
USA Cycling lists the winners on the final day of the national paracycling championships.
The Athletic takes a deep dive into how Wout Van Aert overcame a career full of scars to win Paris-Roubaix; van Aert dedicated his win to former teammate and friend Michael Goolaerts, who died of a heart attack during the 2018 race.
The AP correctly notes we’re living in a golden age of cycling, with “weekly brilliance and once-in-a-lifetime rivalries,” thanks to Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard. And you can add Demi Vollering, Lorena Wiebes, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and the incomparable Marianne Vos.
Australian cyclist Luke Durbridge is calling it a career after 14 years on the pro tour, all with the same team.
L39ION of Los Angeles pro Eder Frayre won the men’s elite Redding Classic general classification, while Lauren Stephens of Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment won the women’s GC title.
Former world champ and Olympic medalist Rohan Dennis is criticizing the media for creating a false narrative over the death of his wife, Australian Olympian Melissa Hoskins in 2023, even though he pled guilty to recklessness when he hit the accelerator as she was clinging to his car, though he was not held criminally responsible.
Finally…
What good’s a bike lane when it’s full of trucks. That feeling when it’s the guy on the bike who’s busted for DUI after a crash.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
