Tag Archive for traffic cameras

Bike safety bills limp to the finish in CA legislature, building a prop-propelled bike, and who really needs 2 tires, anyway?

Day 246 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Let’s hold a moment of silence for all the good bike and traffic safety bills that won’t make it through this session of the state legislature.

California Streetsblog offers an update on the status of traffic-related bills that are still alive, although some can’t be voted on until next year.

Like AB 891 Quick-Build Project Pilot Program, which would require Caltrans to develop safety projects on state highways for bicyclists and pedestrians;

AB 939, The Safe, Sustainable, Traffic-Reducing Transportation Bond Act of 2026, which would have placed an initiative on next year’s ballot to fund sustainable transportation throughout California;

AB 954, The Bike Highways Bill, which has been watered down to merely define what a bike highway is, allowing jurisdictions to fund and build their own bike highways, rather than mandating Caltrans to build them;

And SB 445, Transportation: Planning: Complete Streets Facilities: Sustainable Transportation Projects, would impose permitting deadlines on companies and jurisdictions, so they can’t draw them out.

On the other hand, a few good bills are moving forward, though some have been severely watered down.

Take AB 366, Ignition Interlock Devices, which would have expanded the interlock program for convicted drunk drivers, but now just indefinitely extends the existing program;

SB 71, California Environmental Quality Act exemptions for transit projects, streamlines CEQA requirements for public transportation, bike and pedestrian projects that reduce car dependency, and just needs to pass the full assembly;

SB 720, Automated Traffic Enforcement System Programs, changes state regulations so cities can create and operate red light camera programs, or do it better in cities with existing programs, now needs to pass the Assembly Appropriations Committee and the full Assembly.

On the other hand, one very bad bill is still in the running.

AB 697, Protected Species: Authorized Take for State Route 37 Expansion, would allow the construction of additional travel lanes on State Route 37 between Vallejo and State Route 121 in Sonoma County, even though it would run through protected habitats and wetlands.

Nothing like destroying a little fragile habitat for another induced-demand inducing highway project that flies in the face of California’s climate goals.

………

Someone stole my idea to put a propeller on a bicycle, dammit.

Thanks to Steven for the heads-up. 

………

Who really needs both tires, anyway?

Literally just riding along
byu/Natac_orb inJustridingalong

………

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

Several Edinburgh, Scotland bike lanes could be at risk, as officials dither in the face of a deadline to make temporary bike lanes permanent, while bike advocates warn that “every bike could be another car making congestion worse.”

………

Local 

Courtesy of Los Angeles Streetsblog comes word that ActiveSGV and Amigos de los Rios will host an Easy Access ride exploring the Emerald Necklace greenway this Saturday. 

 

State

Oceanside will move forward with completion of an unfinished half-mile segment of the Coastal Rail Trail, the 44-mile bike and pedestrian trail connecting Oceanside and San Diego.

Sad news just keeps on coming, as the Kern County coroner identified a 42-year old Bakersfield man who was killed Friday when his bicycle was struck by one driver, and he was thrown into the roadway where he was struck by another one; CHP investigators were quick to blame the victim for riding at night with no lights on his bike, even though relatives say the first driver was drunk and speeding. A crowdfunding campaign for the victim’s funeral expenses has raised just $250 of the modest $4,500 goal.

 

National

Ultra-endurance icon Kilian Jornet plans to summit every 14,000-foot peak in the continuous 48 states, linking them all by bike and foot. Which means he can skip everything north, south and east of Colorado; Utah, Arizona and Oregon can sit down, too. 

“Tax-averse” Wyoming is considering plans tp charge mountain bikers $10-20 annual trail fees, on top of state park entrance fees, after federal funding was cut off. Although maybe someone should tell them that, too, is a form of taxation.

Um, okay. An Omaha, Nebraska TV station says bike riders are applauding a new road diet and bike lanes, even though neighbors are questioning the changes, like local residents everywhere. But they couldn’t seem to find any of those questionable questioners to talk with.

Chicago bike riders enjoyed a carfree Lake Shore Drive on Sunday, even as the state abandoned plans to redefine the eight lane highway separating the city from Lake Michigan, while making the roadway even more car-centric.

A reporter for an Illinois website says hey, she’s a bicyclist now, after claiming an old bike from her parent’s garage — and setting out for her first ride sans helmet and without making sure it was in rideable condition. But we all had to start somehow, right?

Philadelphia bike riders plead for safer streets after a 67-year-old man was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike yesterday, while family members begged for information.

Dashcam video captures the hit-and-run that left a Richmond, Virginia bike rider sprawled in the street, but what really bothers the victim is that no one stopped to help afterwards.

An 80-year old Florida man faces felony manslaughter and hit-and-run charges for killing a nine-year old boy riding a bicycle, then speeding off as witnesses tried to stop him with the kid’s bicycle still trapped under his pickup; he claimed he knew he’d hit a bicycle, but “didn’t think there was a kid on it.” Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive — and whether a judge will really send an elderly man to prison against the wishes of the boy’s very forgiving parents. 

 

International

Bike Radar says gravel bikes have finally outgrown their awkward years.

Luxury Travel Magazine says Slovenia should be your next ebike adventure destination. You could even visit the somewhat creepy semi-faceless bronze statue the purports to represent local girl Melania Trump — or you could, if it hadn’t been stolen after the original wooden version was set on fire.

 

Competitive Cycling

The training crash that injured Chris Froome was a lot worse than we were initially led to believe, as the four-time Tour de France champ suffered life-threatening heart damage, along with a broken back and five broken ribs, when he clipped a curb and crashed head-on into a road sign at 30 mph; Froome’s wife says he now faces a long recovery, and will be off his bike for the foreseeable future.

Twenty-five-year-old Italian cyclist Filippo Baroncini is going home with a contract extension, after a gruesome crash in Stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne in early August that required putting him in an induced coma and extensive facial reconstruction.

No surprise here, as seemingly inevitable winner Jonas Vingegaard is back in the red leader’s jersey after yesterday’s mountaintop finish in Stage 10 of the Vuelta.

Dutch rider Ide Schelling is calling it a career at the tender age of 27, saying it became clear he “didn’t want to do this for the next five to ten years.”

Cycling News offers a guide to streaming pro cycling this month for those of us in the US. Let’s just hope the Canadian bike races won’t be subject to Trump’s tariffs.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to interrupt your bike ride to threaten someone with a loaded flare gun. Sorry, but an e-assisted pedal boat does not a water bike make.

And like we didn’t already know good coffee and bikes just naturally go together.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Hit-and-run driver kills Hollywood statue, turning 6th Street into a weekend plaza, and Americans like traffic cams

Day 241 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

This, too, is the cost of traffic violence.

A hit-and-run driver severely damaged a popular Hollywood sculpture Monday evening, literally decapitating a statue of early film icon Anna May Wong, widely considered to be the first Chinese American film star.

The statue is, or rather, was, part of the Four Ladies of Hollywood Gazebo at Hollywood Blvd and La Brea Ave, a popular photo site for tourists, even if it has been without the small statue of Marilyn Monroe that used to top it until an influencer stole it as a prank and broke it.

According to Beverly Press & Park LaBrea News, the unknown driver fled the scene after crashing into it around 5:50 pm Monday. He’s described only as a male in a full-size, older model, white work van.

Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD’s Hollywood Division at 213/972-2971.

Let’s hope they find the coward and force ’em to pay for repairs.

………

Good idea.

CD10 Councilmember Heather Hutt wants to close a section of 6th Street in Koreatown on weekends to create a four-block pedestrian plaza.

Or rather, she wants to close it to cars so we can open it up for everyone else.

………

Researchers are discovering that automated traffic cams are more popular than you think, for one good reason.

They work.

According to Bloomberg,

But writ large, the track record of automatic enforcement is overwhelmingly positive. In surveys most Americans understand and value the upsides that traffic cameras offer. A 2022 study found that a majority of American adults back automatic traffic enforcement, and that presenting it as a tool to advance racial justice can make it even more popular. Earlier research identified consistently strong support. A 2012 study of people living across 14 US cities found that two-thirds of them supported red light cameras. Papers published in 2014 and 2016 found that 76% of residents in the District of Columbia and 62% of those in suburban Montgomery County, Maryland, respectively, supported speed cameras.

Public support can transcend party lines and geography. Sarah Seo, a law professor now at New York University, found in a 2020 reportthat a majority of likely voters across the US supported “moving most traffic enforcement to traffic cameras and non-police agencies” (such as a transportation department, as Berkeley, California, has explored), including almost two-thirds of Democrats, a plurality of independents, and 42% of Republicans.

So what the hell is Los Angeles waiting for, already?

………

LADOT wants to know how to make the stretch of Pico Blvd west of DTLA safer.

So tell ’em, already.

………

Gravel Bike California rides Tour de Big Bear.

………

Before there was a Polls-Royce, Rolls rolled.

………

Oops.

Why does it do this?
byu/reviewtechhentai inbikewrench

………

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

Just an oopsie, as a British town removed a barrier mistakenly placed in the middle of a bike path.

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

An 85-year old San Francisco man ended up with multiple injuries when something knocked his cane out from under him and sent him flying as he walked in a bike lane — although he has no idea if it was someone on a bicycle, someone getting out of an Uber, or something or someone else.

More on the road-raging British bicyclist who allegedly threw his bike at a car in a fit of rage after the driver “bumped” into him, causing over $1,300 in damages, even through the driver pinky swears he was only going 2 mph at the time of the crash. Which kinda stretches credibility, because most cars can idle faster than that if left in gear.

………

Local 

Santa Clarita’s forthcoming Haskell Canyon Bike Park is making news in San Francisco, as the SF Gate examines the city’s effort to become a mountain biking destination.

 

State

In an op-ed for the nonprofit Voice of OC, a Huntington Beach man who identifies himself as an “automobile driver, a cyclist, and an e-bike rider” says enough with passing performative ebike laws on a city-by-city basis, since state law already covers it — including defining any two-wheeled electric device without pedals as a motorbike.

Around 50 people will set out today on the 5th annual Suicide Awareness Ride, covering 250 miles from San Diego to Santa Barbara over the next three days.

Carlsbad will consider adopting a minimum age requirement for ebike riders.

 

National

If your toddler wears a FunFix bike helmet, the feds want you to throw it away.

At least a Washington hit-and-run driver had the courtesy to wait until kids weren’t around to crash into a school bike rack.

When is a bike lane not a bike lane? When a high-end Denver steakhouse has a city permit to use it for valet service.

A Guinness World Record-holding adventure cyclist rode 430 miles north to south from one end of Wisconsin to the other, ending with a dip in Lake Superior.

State police in Michigan called for better road safety awareness as bicycling collisions jumped 20% in the first half of this year.

Gainesville, Florida seems to stretch the meaning of “traffic control device,” which is what they call bike lanes.

Commissioners in Florida’s Seminole County are hesitating to install new green bike lanes, after receiving a letter from the state ordering them to remove green crosswalks.

 

International

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website says Ireland’s “rugged and remote” Donegal coast belongs on everyone’s bike bucket list, especially this time of year.

More proof that bicycling is good for you, as new Italian study shows that riding your bike as little as 2.5 miles to work four to five times a week is enough to boost your heart health as much as 30%.

 

Competitive Cycling

Four time Tour de France winner Chris Froome had to be airlifted to a hospital following a training crash that left him with a fractured vertebra, multiple broken ribs and a collapsed lung; he’s reportedly in stable condition after being rushed into surgery.

It’s happened again, as thieves broke into the TotalEnergies cycling team truck at France’s Tour de Poitou-Charente, stealing 20 bikes made by the American ENVE brand.

 

Finally…

Aways remember to steal your getaway bike from Walmart before you rob a bank, not after. When you’re carrying synthetic drugs and meth on your bike, stop for the damn stop signs, already.

And if you don’t want to censor the maps, maybe don’t start your bike race in Three Cocks.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Petition for red light cam at Fountain and Gardner, build a more livable South Bay, and tell Metro how to improve public safety

Day 203 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

A new petition is calling for a red light cam at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street to combat the ongoing toll of traffic violence, including the hit-and-run death of Blake Ackerman two weeks ago.

As of this writing, it stands at 199 signatures, including mine.

Let’s help get it a lot higher.

Photo by Thomas from Pixabay.

………

Here’s your chance to get started on building a more livable South Bay, with an in-person discussion next Monday evening at St. Cross Episcopal Church in Hermosa Beach.

What does it take to create livable and walkable communities?

Join us for an informative and dynamic conversation with special guests from Livable Communities Initiative and Parking Reform Network on policy and planning reforms to create a more livable, affordable South Bay community. We’ll learn from experts in urban planning and parking reform and hear from local organizations engaged in this work. This event will spark real conversations about local reforms that can bring down the cost of living and shape neighborhoods focused around people instead of cars.

This event is co-sponsored by South Bay Forward, League of Women Voters of the Beach Cities, and South Bay Bicycle Coalition Plus.

Featured speakers: Lindsay Sturman, Co-Founder of Livable Communities Initiative and Tony Jordan, President of Parking Reform Network.

Suggested donation of $10 per person to cover event costs.

………

Metro is now accepting applications to join their Public Safety Advisory Committee.

Metro is seeking applicants to participate on our Public Safety Advisory Committee which will work to review, comment, and provide input on how the agency can reimagine public safety on our system.

We are looking for individuals who regularly ride Metro and are committed to supporting the agency in fulfilling its Public Safety Mission Statement, to “safeguard the transit community by taking a holistic, equitable and welcoming approach to public safety, in recognition that each individual is entitled to a safe, dignified and human experience.” Metro also seeks to ensure that the perspectives of youth, women, seniors and people with disabilities are represented. Please note, members serving on the PSAC are not required to be U.S. citizens but need to reside in Los Angeles County.

PSAC meetings occur in person monthly over a two-year term, with the potential for additional outreach, engagement, and subcommittee meetings as deemed necessary.

The PSAC is composed of individuals who can contribute their relevant experience as riders and expertise in:

  • Racial justice
  • Equitable transit
  • Public safety reform
  • Law enforcement
  • Victims’ rights
  • Mental health
  • Homelessness
  • Social services

We appreciate your interest in helping us ensure that Metro provides world-class transportation for all.

Applications for Metro’s Public Safety Advisory Committee will be accepted until Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

Apply Today to submit your application online.

………

That’s more like it.

New York prosecutors threw the book at the speeding hit-and-run driver who killed a 55-year old man on his morning bike ride and a 63-year woman sitting on a bus bench in New York’s Chinatown over the weekend, as we mentioned yesterday.

Twenty-three-year old Autumn Donna Ascencio Romero was hit with charges of with murder, manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, criminal possession of a weapon, leaving the scene of an accident and criminal possession of stolen property.

That last one is because she was allegedly behind the wheel of a stolen car when she “flew” off a bridge at an excessive speed before jumping a curb, hitting the victims and slamming into a police van hard enough to knock it into a jewelry store.

Meanwhile, her 22-year old passenger faces two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

None of which will bring either victim back, of course.

But it’s a start.

………

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

Forget cell phones. A Boston driver says he killed a 62-year old man riding an ebike because he was distracted by a bug.

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

Elderly Singaporean residents complain that the area outside a market and food center has become a “dumping ground” for disorderly parked bicycles. Although we could also applaud the market for being exceptionally successful at attracting bicycle traffic.

………

Local 

Metro Bike is teaming with LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes for a seven-mile bicycle tour of Boyle Heights rich musical heritage. I’ll settle for anyplace that has anything to do with LA music greats Los Lobos, thank you.

A Pasadena committee will consider updating the city’s ebike regulations today to bring them into compliance with state regulations while eliminating a requirement to register ebikes, which the state prohibited in a 2023 bill.

 

State

California governor and undeclared presidential candidate Gavin Newsom signed a pair of ebike bills, one requiring lights and reflectors visible up to 500 feet, and the other merely cleaning up an existing law prohibiting ebike modifications to increase the speed.

This is who we share the road with. A San Diego woman faces charges for the hit-and-run death of a man walking on a bike path — yes, a bike path — after allegedly four miles on the pathway while under the influence.

A Fresno bicycle and pedestrian safety operation resulted in 144 citations, including 90 tickets given to drivers and 54 to pedestrians and bicyclists.

San Francisco’s “premier” open streets event returned to a short 1.4-mile segment of Valencia Street in the Mission District on Sunday.

Sacramento updated its Vision Zero Action Plan. Just in case you want to remind LA’s elected officials that we have one, too.

 

National

He gets it. A writer for Singletracks says he doesn’t regret riding one of America’s worst mountain bike trails, because “In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.” Amen, brother.

CyclingSavvy is hosting a Zoom bike safety training seminar tomorrow on how to prevent the most common types of crashes — even those caused by motorist errors.

Seattle Bike Blog says the city’s new bike lanes are actually freight infrastructure for cargo bike riders. Then again, that’s just as true for Los Angeles if you choose to use them that way. And maybe you should. 

Quick action by an Iowa state trooper, along with several bystanders, is credited with saving the life of a 62-year old California man who has no pulse after crashing his bike during the annual RAGBRAI ride across Iowa.

Rhode Island’s annual Newport Folk Festival is expecting another record-setting year of bicycle traffic, with an anticipated 1,600 ticket holders arriving each day representing 16% to 18% of all attendees, thanks in part to a new city safety plan.

They get it, too. Jacksonville, Florida completed an $11 million road diet, slimming a four lane roadway down to one lane in each direction, along with sidewalks and bike lanes, in part because they expect it to attract business.

 

International

That’s more like it, part two. A 20-year old Sheffield, England man will spend the next eleven years behind bars for killing an 81-year old man riding a bicycle, after blowing a red light while high on nitrous oxide and traveling an estimated 30 mph over the post 50 mph speed limit.

A British coroner is criticizing a French investigation into the death of a high-end wine merchant, who was stuck by a driver while on a bicycling vacation in Burgundy, concluding the investigation “by the gendarmerie was inadequate” and finding no evidence the victim and his companions were riding recklessly, as the French cops had concluded.

A man in the UK is riding his bike unsupported around the coast of the country to encourage more men to bike and to get help for mental health, because “Suicide is the biggest global killer of men.”

A museum in Bhopal, India features 30 “luxurious” bicycles that cost more than some cars, including a tri bike with a frame made from a single sheet of carbon fiber with no joints anywhere. Then again, an entry-level car costs less than five grand in India. 

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where the family of a bike-riding 11-year old girl is demanding a longer sentence for the hit-and-run driver who killed her while driving drunk, high and speeding on the wrong side of the road because she was enraged that her boyfriend was having an affair; they called the 34-year old woman’s four year and five month sentence a “slap in the face,” especially considering her 29 previous convictions. Yes, 29.

 

Competitive Cycling

While other websites are obsessed with how male cyclists pee during a race, Cycling Weekly considers the problem of how women cyclists manage their periods.

A new report from Zwift says we could be entering a new golden age of women’s cycling, saying the revival of the women’s Tour de France has already transformed women’s cycling on screen, on the road and in the pro peloton.

Mountain Bike Action examines the mountain bikers currently competing in the Tour de France, including Americans Matteo Jorgenson, Quinn Simmons and Sepp Kuss.

Velo wants to let you in on the secret human side of “Tour de France King” Tadej Pogačar.

Bike Radar considers the question of why the pain tolerance of pro cyclists is so much higher than other sportspeople. Although boxing, MMA fighting and pro football kind of hurt, too.  

That’s not red wine cyclists are sucking down at the finish line, it’s tart cherry juice.

 

Finally…

Only in America could a cat grow up to be mayor of a bike path. That feeling when the county encourages you to ride on Gallows Road.

And the average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gas in Los Angeles County is just a fraction under $4.50.

Just in case you walk and ride your bike everywhere and have no idea what it costs these days.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

New report calls traffic cams “underutilized resource,” and just 15 days left to launch CA ebike incentives by fall deadline

It’s lucky Day 13 of the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Which means there are just 18 days left to show your support for SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy.

So thanks to John L and James B for their generous donations to keep all the freshest bike news coming your way every day. 

So what are you waiting for?

Take a moment and give now!

………

They get it.

A new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association, in association with State Farm, calls automated traffic cams an “underutilized tool in the fight to reduce dangerous driving behaviors that contribute to more than 100 people dying on U.S. roads every day.”

That’s a lot of associating.

The GHSA offers a list of guidelines for effective automated camera programs, including,

  • Focus on safety: Revenue generated by safety cameras should be used to support program start-up and maintenance costs, with any excess revenue dedicated to traffic safety initiatives such as infrastructure enhancements or increased education.
  • Proper site selection: Cameras should be installed in locations that have crash, injury or fatality data justifying their use, particularly if these incidences involve vulnerable road users. Determining if other countermeasures, such speed calming, could be deployed to address the traffic safety problem should also be considered.
  • Community participation and engagement: Members of the community where the safety cameras will be deployed must be part of the planning and implementation process. Meaningful public engagement that begins early can help bolster public acceptance and trust.
  • Equity: Research has repeatedly confirmed that people of color are disproportionately impacted by traffic crashes and deaths. All decisions about safety camera programs – including public engagement during the planning process, where cameras are placed and how fines are structured – should be viewed through an equity lens.
  • Transparency and accessibility: Jurisdictions should share the data used to inform the decision-making process when considering whether to create an automated enforcement program. Where and when the cameras will be deployed should be highly publicized, so drivers are not caught by surprise.
  • Reciprocity agreements: Jurisdictions should create reciprocity agreements with neighboring states that address out-of-state violators who fail to pay traffic safety camera fines.

A speed cam pilot program was recently approved by the state legislature to enable speed cams in Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach, as well as three cities in Northern California.

Meanwhile, Metro recently approved the use of cameras mounted in Metro buses to detect drivers illegally blocking bus lanes.

However, at least in Los Angeles, red light cameras are a no go, after the city council banned them over a decade ago, in response to drivers who didn’t like getting caught breaking the law.

We’ll see how they like speed cams.

And maybe one day Los Angeles will get its collective head out of its metaphorical ass long enough to accept that saving lives is just a tad more important than enabling people to get away with driving dangerously through red lights.

We can hope, anyway.

………

After a seemingly endless series of delays, we were promised that California’s seemingly moribund ebike incentive program would finally launch, with a vague deadline of sometime this fall.

But with the holidays rapidly approaching — hello, Chanukah! — time is rapidly running out on the latest promised launch time.

So today we’re launching our own countdown counter marking the days left before the state misses this deadline, too.

Days left to launch California ebike rebate program this fall: 15

………

‘Tis the season.

The San Diego Padres gave away over 120 new bikes to third graders at San Diego’s Porter Elementary School.

Police in St. Petersburg, Florida gave away hundreds of bicycles to young kids to spread the holiday cheer.

………

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

No bias here. A Los Angeles letter writer responds to LA Times letters editor Paul Thornton’s call for better bike infrastructure for his 46-mile round trip ebike commute by complaining about taking traffic lanes “away from the many who need them for the benefit of the few who consider cars evil,” even though Thornton never expressed any negative comments about cars, or the people who drive them.

No bias here, either. A self-described bike-riding English farmer describes a conflict with a “profusely red-faced, slightly rotund middle-aged man, dressed from head to toe in figure-hugging fluorescent Lycra and a bike helmet, windmilling his arms and frothing at the mouth with rage” while trying in vain not to tip his bicycle, in what Road.cc calls a clearly fictional, or at least exaggerated, account.

………

………

Local 

The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition will host their Holiday Lights Ride on Saturday, taking a festive bike ride to Christmas Tree Lane’s 103rd Annual Lighting Ceremony and Winter Festival.

The new Puente Creek Bikeway will provide a safer alternative to busy Amar Road through La Puente, Valinda and City of Industry.

Surprising news from REI, which announced plans to close its very busy Santa Monica store due to rising operational costs; the store will shutter on Leap Year Day next year.

Like Malibu, Long Beach’s efforts to reduce traffic deaths is complicated by the fact that one of the city’s deadliest roadways is a state highway, as the city tries to work with Caltrans to improve safety on PCH.

Speaking of Long Beach, the city has started work to install bike lanes on a section of Alamitos Ave, from Ocean Blvd to Seventh Street.

 

State

San Francisco’s director of transportation says people just need more time to adjust to the new, much maligned centerline protected bike lane on Valencia Street, as business owners reacted to complaints about new parking restrictions by demanding the dismantling of the city transportation agency; Streetsblog says the problems stem from design compromises made in an effort to appease everyone.

The San Francisco Standard asks if the city has killed its most important business corridor through significantly scaled back plans for a pedestrianized street that has resulted in no car traffic, but no foot traffic, either.

San Francisco received a $600,000 grant from the US Dept. of Energy to provide ebikes and safety training to food delivery workers, as well as collecting data on food delivery; the funding is in addition to a $2.4 million state grant.

Streetsblog says it’s hard to take promises from Oakland’s mayor to improve safety seriously when one off-street bike path is in such a state of disrepair that it’s unusable.

 

National

A pair of Rutgers University studies show bicycling habits may have permanently changed as a result of Covid, with more people using free time gained from working at home to ride recreationally — although an 11% bump in people riding to work ain’t nothing. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

Grand Junction, Colorado will distribute 40 free ebikes to residents earning at or below 80% of the area’s median income, equal to $46,050 per year or less, in an effort to collect detailed trip travel data to share with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

A 52-year old former competitive cyclist stopped in Laredo, Texas on his bike tour from Alaska to the tip of Argentina, with a mission to plant 5,000 trees along the way.

The Army Corps of Engineers is backing off plans to ban bike riders from a popular Fort Worth, Texas trail after the first of the year, and will now look at ways to minimize conflicts between bicyclists and campers.

Continuing our journey through Texas, bicycle advocates in Houston are urging the city to make safety a priority, as it nears a record number of bicycling deaths this year.

NPR discusses Milwaukee’s annual Santa Cycle Rampage, as over a thousand bike riders  rode through downtown dressed as Santa Claus for the 20th anniversary celebration.

A Chicago newspaper recommends three books recounting the writers’ cross-country and global bike rides for your holiday giving. Even if you’re just giving one to yourself. 

You know you have a problem when three bicyclists have been killed at the same Indianapolis intersection in just three years, as the city tops last year’s total for bicycling and pedestrian deaths.

A Harpursville, New York man will serve consecutive sentences of one and a third to four years behind bars after pleading guilty to hit-and-run and gun charges following the death of a 13-year old boy riding his bike on New Year’s Day.

A pair of North Carolina towns are going car-optional, as new bike networks in Carrboro and Chapel Hill encourage residents to get on their bicycles instead of driving.

 

International

The home of the traditional Christmas Coventry Carol is making like the Grinch this holiday season by banning ebikes and e-scooters from sections of the city center.

Newly released video shows a Northampton, England cop jump out of a police van to commandeer a bystander’s bicycle to chase down a fleeing drug dealer.

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a drunk and stoned driver got 11 months of home vacation detention for killing a 61-year old bike-riding grandfather, while driving an unregistered car at over five times the legal alcohol limit; but at least he’ll have to pass the victim’s ghost bike every day as he bikes to work, after losing his license for three years.

A Queensland, Australia coroner has opened a cold-case inquest into the hit-and-run death of a 21-year old man riding a bicycle, using a new state law that allows coroners to force witnesses to answer questions, though the answers can’t be used against them in a criminal trial.

 

Competitive Cycling

American pro Neilson Powless says he remains focused on one-day classics, but doesn’t rule out competing for a Grand Tour win one day.

Pro cyclist Tim Merlier rallied to win a beach race in a photo finish after nearly being taken out by the operator of a quad bike.

The family of fallen cyclist Magnus White is creating a nonprofit foundation in his honor, using crowdfunded contributions raised after 17-year old rider was killed by a driver while training for the Junior Mountain Bike World Championships in Scotland.

Conservative media is once again in a transgender panic, after a pair of trans women took first and second at the Illinois State Cyclocross Championships.

 

Finally…

Nothing like mountain biking on a gravel bike. Your next bike could be a 3D-printed Aston Martin.

And there’s something seriously wrong when Santa’s elves aren’t even safe from traffic violence.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin