Tag Archive for traffic safety

Waymo claims autonomous cabs protect peds and bike riders, and tariffs endanger threatened American bike industry

May 2, 2025 / / No comments
Day 122 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Waymo says that after five years in use, their autonomous taxis are up to 25 times safer for bike riders and pedestrians than the vehicles with people behind the wheel.

The company’s cars have completed 56.7 million miles in operation, resulting in a total of 96 crashes with just four serious injuries.

That compares with an average of roughly 78 serious injury crashes over the same distance for human drivers.

I took my first ride in a Waymo  yesterday, and while appreciated the way it braked when necessary due to cars pulling out in front of it, I ended up getting carsick due to the frequent turns to avoid major streets.

No stars, would not recommend.

Photo from Waymo website. 

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More bad tariff news, as an open letter from People For Bikes warns that Trump’s tariffs will have “devastating impacts” on the already endangered bicycle industry if they aren’t adjusted in the short term.

And went on to point out that companies already assembling bikes in the US are struggling to survive.

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

A Washington State bike rider reported being shot with a BB gun by someone in a passing car, suffering injuries on his thigh and stomach. Which police should take just as seriously as any other drive-by shooting, considering the possibility of permanent injuries or a deadly crash.

No bias here. The BBC staged an “us versus them” debate on the hostility faced by bike riders, asking listeners “Is public sympathy for cyclists wearing thin?”

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Local 

Lime is planning to add 2,000 dockless ebikes across the Los Angeles area, adding to the company’s thousands of e-scooters, calling it the start of a new green era in preparation for the 2028 Olympics. Although the way things are going in Los Angeles, it may be the about only green transportation for the Olympics.

Metro Bike Share is hosting a Westwood to the Waves community bike ride on Sunday, and a Stronger Tides, Stronger Community ride from Mar Vista to Venice on Saturday, May 10th.

Pasadena police will conduct a bicycle safety operation on Friday, May 16th, focusing on behaviors and violations by drivers that put people on bicycles at risk — although once again, it’s illegal to target any one particular group, rather than all road users.

 

State

The owner of specialty fire-glass manufacturer SAFTI FIRST donated 50 new mountain bikes to UC Merced, which will be distributed to several campus organizations including the bike club and the campus bicycle loaner program.

The San Mateo Daily Journal examines the reasons behind an increase in bicycling crashes in urban areas. And for once, the people on two wheels don’t get the blame. 

A pair of San Francisco LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS organizations will host competing fundraising stage rides to Sonoma County next year, in the wake of the demise of the annual AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Novato-based Santa Cruz Bicycles is recalling the batteries for their Heckler 9 Ebikes due to a risk of fires.

 

National

Oregon Republicans want to eliminate funding for all transit, rail and bicycle programs, requiring the state transportation department to focus on its “core mission” to support car and truck drivers. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up. 

Colorado is implementing a two-year, $167 million to fix the deadly nine-mile Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont, where 17-year old US National Cycling Team member Magnus White was killed by a sleep-deprived, possibly intoxicated driver two years ago.

As the Arkansas Global Cycling Accelerator nears the end of its first session, an Ozarks public radio station talks with one of its first beneficiaries as he works to bring the world’s lightest bike lock to market.

If you build it, they will come. New York built or upgraded a record 110 miles of protected bike lanes, resulting in a record level of ridership, with an estimated 226 million bicycling trips each year across the city. Meanwhile, Los Angeles built less than 107 miles of bike lanes of any type over the last three fiscal years. And has no idea how many bike trips are taken in the city each year. 

 

International

Momentum recommends the best North American rail trails to ride this summer, one of which is actually in (Northern) California.

Road.cc highlights a handful of innovative bike security solutions. I’ll take than underground bike parking vault, please.

Speaking of Lime, a writer for Road.cc says it’s time to stop whining about the dockless ebikes blighting neighborhoods and crowding out regular bike riders, because they’re “currently the jewel in Britain’s diminutive active travel crown.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist talks with Spanish ultra-endurance cyclist and runner Juan Dual, who has competed in some of the world’s toughest races, despite having his large intestine, rectum, stomach and gall bladder removed due to a genetic condition causing cancer of the digestive system.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you drop four grand on a Canyon bike on Amazon, and can’t even get next day delivery. Listen my children and you shall hear, of a bunch of people on bicycles re-enacting the midnight ride of Paul Revere.

And that feeling when you somehow manage to sideswipe a parked bus on your ebike.

https://twitter.com/UB1UB2/status/1917566094618829148?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1917566094618829148%7Ctwgr%5Ef063c8238e5fccdd64da3b6ea46151197f8f3f95%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.standard.co.uk%2Fnews%2Ftransport%2Fcyclist-injury-lime-bike-shoreditch-tfl-london-bus-b1225450.html

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Another failure as CA ebike voucher website crashes, don’t DOGE LA protest tonight, and bringing HLA to LAC

April 30, 2025 / / No comments
Day 120 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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You’ve got to be kidding.

The California E-Bike Incentive Program had more than four months to work out all the bugs after their disastrous, deliberately throttled first round.

And they screwed the pooch again.

There’s just no good way to put it. Yesterday’s second round of voucher applications was yet another demonstration of the sheer incompetence of the people running this program.

I signed onto the program’s application window on at exactly 5 pm yesterday. Or rather, I tried to. And apparently, so did everyone else.

What I got when I clicked on the “Apply” button was…nothing. So I tried again. And again. And I kept trying, and kept getting the same result — the very definition of insanity,

Until I finally got this.

Judging by the responses when I posted about it on Twitter/X and Bluesky, so did nearly everyone else. A few, very few, people managed to get in.

Eventually, so did I, entering the portal for the voucher lottery with exactly five minutes left in the application window.

Then two minutes later, I was kicked out. And so was everyone else.

The program administrators knew the volume they could and should expect, after more than 100,000 people tried, and mostly failed, to apply for vouchers in the first round.

Yet they somehow still gave just one hour for all those people to apply. Then remarkably — and foolishly — recommended that everyone the enter the room as early as possible, virtually guarantying they would all hit the “Apply” button exactly at the same time.

And bringing the website crashing down, taking the voucher window down with it.

Going forward, they should provide at least a 12-hour window to apply, if not a week, so it doesn’t crash the system. Then inform the winners by email, giving them another 24 hours to get their applications in.

And don’t throttle the damn applications.

Just release all the remaining funding at once, so people at least have a reasonable chance of getting a voucher. Unlike the current round, where the 1,000 available vouchers represented less than 1% of the anticipated demand.

Once program proves successful — and there’s no reason why it wouldn’t — go back to the legislature to request another round of funding.

Then fire troubled San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, which was contracted to administer the program, and consider moving oversight of this program out of CARB, because they have clearly shown they can’t handle it.

No other ebike rebate program anywhere in the US has had as much difficulty launching, and needed as much time, as California. We were the first to approve an ebike voucher program, and the last to get it up and running right

This whole damn thing should be investigated by the state, because it’s hard to believe anyone could be so fucking incompetent by accident.

They also need to figure out what the hell they’re trying to accomplish, because they have two glaringly conflicting goals.

When you visit the California Ebike Incentive Program website, and watch the required video on climate change, the message is about getting people onto ebikes and out of their cars.

But by limiting applications to lower income residents, and favoring people with the lowest incomes, the clear intent is to provide those people with reliable transportation, whether or not they even own a car.

Which is something they should have figured out in those first three and a half years.

But somehow, didn’t.

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Don’t forget tonight’s die-in on the steps of City Hall to protest the mayor’s draconian budget cuts and layoffs, which could set safer and more livable streets — and Measure HLA — back for years.

Even the General Manager of LADOT thinks it’s a lousy idea.

Dying-In Los Angeles – A Protest for Safer Streets: Don’t “DOGE” LA Safety

A coalition of non-profits and road safety advocates will be hosting a protest on the steps of LA City Hall to raise awareness of LA’s dystopian-level budget cuts.

If these cuts go through, there will be no funding for new safety improvements next year — no speed reduction measures, no protected bike lanes, no pedestrian upgrades. Nothing.

Join us at 6pm, April 30th – LA City Hall.

And don’t forget to sign the petition telling Mayor Bass not to DOGE LA safety.

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Streets For All wants your support today for a Measure HLA-style ordinance for LA County.

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Bike Culver City want you to celebrate the cars of the past, while demonstrating that bikes are the future.

We’ve grown up surrounded by cars powered by fossil fuel-burning engines. Many of our fondest memories occurred in a car: our first kiss, riding to a beach party, feeling independent for the first time, experiencing pride of ownership, and cherishing and caring for a beautiful machine. Today, these modes of transport have become cherished relics—too precious to drive, costly to operate and maintain, and plagued by traffic congestion, rude drivers, and their contribution to poor air quality.

Displaying cars as cherished relics is appropriate, given their immense sentimental value. Bike Culver City welcomes over 500 exhibitors to our city on Saturday, May 10th, from 9 am to 3 pm, https://www.culvercitycarshow.com. Please bring your bike to commemorate this event during National Bike Month and send a photo of yourself and your bike in front of your favorite relic to aardus@yahoo.com. We will post the image as part of the Bike to the Future II display at https://www.facebook.com/groups/bikecc. Please patronize our local businesses as you always do.

The Car Show street closures provide thousands of walkers and strollers with the opportunity to enjoy downtown Culver City safely on foot, free from the dangers of traffic, as well as air and noise pollution. Imagine the paradise if downtown street closures were not just a once-a-year event. Join us!

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

After a driver in Baton Rouge, Louisiana struck a man riding a bicycle, he pulled a gun on the victim, ordering him “not to get (his) mf’n license plate” — yet the police somehow responded by telling bike riders to be aware of their surroundings, rather than, say, watch out of angry armed nut jobs.

No bias here. Residents of a DC neighborhood are calling for new protected bike and bus lanes to be removed because delivery drivers are now parking in the one remaining traffic lane, instead of, say, calling for increased enforcement to stop illegal parking.

Japanese bike riders say the country should be focused on building better bike infrastructure, instead of cracking down on bad behavior by bicyclists.

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

An Australian columnist says she’s not opposed to ebikes, but the dangerous bad behavior of ebike riders has got to stop. Although maybe someone can explain why the newspaper chose to illustrate ebikes donated to emergency departments with a picture of ebike-riding young women in tiny bikinis.

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Local 

Culver City announced a 15-week beautification and maintenance program on the Ballona Creek Bike Path, leading to periodic disruptions on Thursdays between 6:30 am and 4 pm.

A Burbank writer for the Sierra Club says trade your car for a bike, and you’ll discover beauty and nature even in the heart of the city.

Pasadena is planning a jam-packed calendar of events to celebrate Bike Month next month, including National Ride a Bike Day, and Bike to School and Bike to Work Days.

Sad news from Castaic, where a man riding a bicycle died after going into cardiac arrest; the victim has not been publicly identified.

 

State

About damn time. A bill moving through the California legislature would require drunk drivers to install breathalyzers in their cars after their first offense.

They get it. The usually conservative Los Angeles Daily News says the California DMV is working to keep dangerous drivers on the road, instead of getting them off.

San Francisco Streetsblog looks at the new curbside protected bike lanes on the city’s Valencia Street, which replace the much maligned centerline bike lanes.

Novato rejected plans for a new bike lane, with the city council voting 4-1 to preserve a lousy 27 parking spaces over saving lives.

 

National

Mountain bike legend Tom Ritchey is crowdfunding his new autobiography, promising to add extra pages if he can get the total up to $75,000 by May 15th.

Trek has launched a new technical support hotline, with help available for any brand of bike through their new AI-free Trek Ride Club app.

That’s more like it. A Portland, Oregon man was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter and an additional 7-½ years for attempted murder for running over and killing a pedestrian, then driving up on the sidewalk and attempting to run down a man riding a bicycle who had yelled at him.

It takes a major jerk to vandalize and destroy a San Antonio, Texas ghost bike.

That’s more like it, part two. An Illinois man will spend the next ten years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 64-year old man riding a bicycle, after he veered onto the wrong side of the road while driving at nearly three times the legal alcohol limit.

That’s more like it, part three. A repeat drunk driver was sentenced to at least nine years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run death of a 30-year old bike-riding Ohio man, and had his driver’s license suspended for life.

New York’s congestion pricing plan cut traffic and raised $159 million in just the first three months, but Trump wants to kill it anyway.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A Louisiana man is still bikepacking at 78.

 

International

Momentum recommends the best cities to fall in love with your bicycle all over again this summer. None of which is Los Angeles.

An estimated 1,000 Critical Mass riders rode through a newly opened tunnel under the Thames River, where bicycles are prohibited.

Sad news from Scotland, where a 49-year old man was killed by a driver during the Etape Loch Ness, a 66-mile timed ride around the famed home of the Loch Ness Monster, aka Nessie; the ride was on a closed course, but the crash occurred on a road used by riders to return to the start, which wasn’t closed to cars.

A woman plans to ride her bike 1,200 miles across the UK to talk to farm women for her Ph.D, saying the country’s extensive network of bike paths will make it possible.

British TV host and dedicated bike rider Jeremy Vine has sworn off posting his videos depicting bad behavior by drivers and the dangers on the streets due to the abusive comments he gets, including explicit tweets about his wife. Although a British bike racing broadcaster says Vine’s videos made bicyclists look militant and unhinged.

Forbes says Germany offers a “robust cycling network of more than 320 routes, covering some 62,000 miles through country landscapes and storied cities.”

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a truck driver walked without a day behind bars, and can keep driving, after the judge blamed the lack of a bike lane for the death of a 28-year old woman riding a bicycle, and not the man who ran over her in the Kiwi equivalent of a right hook.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly says the American bike racing calendar in sabotaging itself when gravel, mountain bike and road events all occur at the same time.

America’s other ex-Tour de France champ is finally back on his bike, taking part in last weekend’s Belgian Waffle Ride, while saying it took gravel to get him riding again.

Red Bull looks forward to next month’s Giro d’Italia, which will pay homage to the late Pope Francis with a route passing through the Vatican gardens behind St. Peter’s Basilica, and in front of the Santa Marta hotel where Francis lived.

 

Finally…

That feeling when mountain bikes break your bones, but horses are what scare you. Anyone can ride around in a circle; try one of these bike races if you want a real challenge.

And your next very expensive Swiss watch can honor everyone’s favorite Italian cycling legends.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Bass risks bike safety with massive layoffs, Trump admin puts science-free brakes on road diets, and tariffs threaten bike world

April 22, 2025 / / One comment
Day 112 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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LA Mayor Karen Bass plans to fill the city’s massive budget hole with layoff notices.

She proposed kicking 1,647 city workers to the curb in her budget for the coming fiscal year, including nearly 100 cops, dropping the department to its lowest level in years.

However, the fire department will be spared in the wake of the massive Palisades fire with a 12.7% budget increase, including 277 new positions, as well as more paramedics, mechanics and fast response vehicles.

There are also plans to combine a handful of city departments, though not the needlessly siloed transportation and street services departments, which should work together to improve our streets, but usually don’t.

The shortfall was largely caused by years of ever-growing legal settlements, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention to local news.

The budget originally called for twice as many layoffs, but the number was reduced in part by delaying capital improvement projects. Which could lead to even more of those legal settlements, depending on just what they decide to cut.

It’s also likely that at least some of those cuts will come from LADOT and Streets Services, which are already underfunded and understaffed — resulting in years-long delays in safety improvements that risk more lives, and even more of those legal settlements.

And which helped lead to the passage of Measure HLA last year, which aims to force the city to implement the safety improvements in the city’s mobility plan when streets are resurfaced.

Which will now need to be done over a longer period, with less money and fewer people.

Photo of Mayor Karen Bass from website for Mayor of Los Angeles.

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You’ve got to be kidding.

After years of research-backed recommendations that road diets improve traffic safety, the Trump administration is putting a heavy foot on the gas, somehow claiming they make the streets more dangerous, instead of safer.

But as usual, they offer no science to back it up.

According to the Associated Press,

Federal transportation officials once heralded road diets for cutting crashes by 19% to 47%, but criteria for an upcoming round of road safety grants say projects aimed at “reducing lane capacity” should be considered “less favorably,” the administration said.

Forcing travelers into more constrained spaces “can lead to crashes, erratic maneuvers, and a false sense of security that puts everyone at risk,” the U.S. Department of Transportation said in an email statement to The Associated Press. “The update reflects the Department’s concerns about the safety hazards associated with congestion.”

Again — and I can’t stress this enough — there is no research offered to back up that claim.

The AP goes on to add this.

Numerous other cities have credited road diets with improving safety.

Philadelphia cited a 19% drop in injury crashes. Portland, Oregon, saw a more than 70% decline in vehicles traveling at least 10 mph (16 kph) over the speed limit. The average speed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, fell by 5 mph (8 kph) on some roads within months.

So rather than Making America Great Again, the administration’s plan appears to be more about keeping our streets dangerous, and dangerously auto-centric.

Meanwhile, taking a cue from Idaho, which just passed and signed a similar bill, a proposed Texas law would ban narrowing roadways to install bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

Or as one Idaho website so aptly put it, “New Idaho law treats cyclists and pedestrians like pests.”

All so drivers can continue to go zoom, zoom on every inch of road they currently enjoy.

Safety be damned.

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Still more tariff news.

Trek, State and Specialized responded to Trump’s tariffs by raising bike prices, while other brands are limiting US releases.

Colorado’s small outdoor manufacturers are “wilting” in the face of Trump’s trade wars, closing shop and laying off long-time workers.

An Aussie website says the entire bicycle industry is being “chilled” by Trump’s tariffs.

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Streetsblog spotted new bike lanes in the Arts District in DTLA.

New bike lanes being installed in #DTLA Arts District – on Mateo and on Santa Fe – including some parking-protected sections on Santa Fe. Connections to 6th St Bridge (& via Santa Fe to Union Station)

— Streetsblog L.A. (@streetsblogla.bsky.social) 2025-04-20T16:07:02.308Z

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The first pedestrian-oriented CicLAmini of the year comes to Pico Blvd in Pico-Union on the 18th of next month.

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

In yet another case of anti-bike terrorism, someone deliberately placed large logs behind blind corners on Eugene, Oregon’s sole mountain bike-only trail, which appears to be an intentional attempt to injure trail riders. Or worse.

Once again, bike riders get the blame, as police in Boynton Beach, Florida offer safety advice for the people on two wheels in the face of a more than 50% increase in collisions involving bicyclists, while just giving drivers vague advice to “be more responsible.”

It’s anarchy in the UK, as a road-raging driver walked without a day behind bars for getting out of his van and punching a man on a bicycle in the face for the crime of riding in the roadway, as he shouted “There’s a fucking bike path over there;” he was sentenced to the equivalent of community service, and about about 180 bucks restitution for damage to the victim’s bike.

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Local 

Bike tour company Another Side of Los Angeles Tours has now suffered two break-ins in just the last month, with thieves using a brick to break a window and walk out with three ebikes worth up to a grand apiece.

Saturday is the last day to offer input on the SGV Greenway Network, which would place bike/walk paths on the upper shoulders of flood control channels in the San Gabriel Valley.

 

State

California drivers will now face stricter penalties for driving without insurance or under-insured, including fines topping $500, loss of driver’s license and impounding the vehicle. The last one is likely to have more impact, because $500 is a fraction of the annual cost of car insurance, and people drive without a license every day. But no one drives without a car.

Fresno is starting work on improving bike safety on three key corridors.

The wife of an 81-year old Palo Alto man has filed suit against the city, claiming he died after falling off his bicycle when he hit an unmarked open construction ditch on a roadway that was supposed to have been closed.

 

National

Now you can turn your old bike into a new ebike for as little as a hundred bucks.

A group of Washington bicyclists is riding ebikes from Seattle to the state capitol in Olympia to protest a new 10% surcharge on all ebike sales.

Bittersweet news from Las Vegas, where a 71-year old man who has dedicated more than a decade of his life to giving refurbished bikes to hundred of kids in need held one last giveaway, before closing up shop as he battles stage 4 prostate cancer.

No surprise here, as bicyclists in Tallahassee, Florida say they increasingly feel left behind and vulnerable. In other words, like bike riders in nearly every other American cities. Especially here in LA.

 

International

Cycling Weekly considers who, or what, wins the battle of the best do-it-all all-surface bikes.

About damn time. London has finally banned trucks that don’t offer clear sightlines to vulnerable road users. Now if only all the world’s other cities would follow suit — starting with this one.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as a British writer recommends a multi-day gravel ride through Cornwall on the extreme southwestern tip of England, with its “sublime coastal gravel tracks, old mine ruins perched on the clifftops, gorgeous villages and ancient history,” all easily accessible from Penzance. No pirates, however. Unfortunately.

The parents of a fallen Dutch bicyclist are calling for stricter enforcement of the country’s bike paths, after their 12-year old daughter was killed by the driver of a Birò microcar while riding to dance class with two friends. Which is how I learned they even are a thing.  

Everything you always wanted to know about riding a bike in Luxembourg, but were afraid to ask.

About damn time, part two. Subaru is introducing the world’s first external airbags designed to protect bike riders in a crash; it works to keep bicyclists from smashing into the windshield by modifying a pedestrian-safety airbag that’s been available in the country since 2016, but oddly hasn’t even been offered an option in this country. Although it wouldn’t do a lot of good on American trucks and SUVs, with their grills too high to provide any protection.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Tour of the Alps paused for a moment of silence, along with all other Italian sporting events, to mark the death of Pope Francis, the first pope I’m aware of who rode a bicycle.

Pro cyclists have been shocked! shocked! by how quickly Remco Evenepoel has returned to form following major injuries from a December dooring, nearly winning Sunday’s Amstel Gold, before settling for third.

An Indiana website offers everything you need to know about Indiana University’s iconic Little 500 bike race.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can turn your non-biking friends into your new riding companions. Why ride with one mirror on your helmet, when you can have two?

And when you’re carrying meth, coke, brass knuckles and a switchblade on your bike at night, put a damn taillight on it, already.

The bike, that is. Not the meth. Or the switchblade.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

13-year old gets max for thrill-killing bike riding man, and brokering peace between fire departments and safety advocates

April 18, 2025 / / No comments
Day 108 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A 13-year old Albuquerque boy will spend the next eight years behind bars, after he was sentenced to the maximum penalty for second-degree murder.

The boy pled guilty yesterday for the thrill-kill death of a 63-year old engineer at Sandia National Laboratories last May as the victim was riding his bike to work.

Johnathan Overbay admitted he was driving a stolen car with two other boys, ages 11 and 16, when they intentionally crashed it into the victim while recording it on video, apparently just for the hell of it.

As a minor, the most he could be sentenced to was being imprisoned until he turns 21.

But since he was tried as an adult, his record is unlikely to be sealed, and will follow him for the rest of his life.

He was just 12 at the time of the killing.

Photo from Ekaterina Bolovtsova on Pexels.

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Calbike writes that there’s no reason for firefighters and street safety advocates to be at odds, since we both want the same thing.

There is a growing body of evidence showing how bike lanes and other street design changes can save the lives of cyclists and pedestrians, but there isn’t a lot of data on the impact of bikeways on emergency response times; what little there is appears to show not much difference before and after. (Former Berkeley firefighter, paramedic and EMT Mike) Wilson sees a long-term upside to safer infrastructure for people biking and walking: “If you build the infrastructure in ways that are safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, that infrastructure will get used.” He cited a survey of Berkeley residents that found 27% regularly bike or walk for daily needs, and another 27% would bike or walk if it were safer. To feel safer, 86% of respondents reported wanting concrete-protected bike lanes, and 74% wanted parking-protected bike lanes.

That mode shift would reduce vehicle congestion, which is the biggest access issue for fire and EMS response. “The problem of cars blocking access by fire and EMS equipment, that’s the big impediment when it comes to getting your equipment through,” Wilson said.

Wilson thinks he can get firefighters to talk with, and presumably cooperate with, Calbike and other active transportation advocates about AB 612, which would give fire departments veto power over traffic safety improvements.

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Sacramento claims to be the first US city to use AI-powered cameras on buses to enforce illegal parking in bike lanes .

Which is technically true, since LA’s bus-mounted AI cams, which came first, enforce illegally parked cars in bus lanes, rather than bike lanes. Even though bike riders are allowed to use them.

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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 San Diego letter writer says the city can balance its books by charging bike owners for a bicycle license. Although with $258 million in red ink,  those licenses would have to be pretty damned expensive.

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Local 

Don’t forget tomorrow’s Streets Are For Everyone bike ride and protest to mark the 3rd anniversary of Andrew Jelmert’s death at the hands of a speeding hit-and-run driver on Griffith Park’s dangerous Crystal Springs Drive — and demand the safety improvements Los Angeles has promised, but failed to deliver.

 

State

Mountain bike legend Gary Fisher’s new startup is ready to introduce a new ultra-lightweight bicycle that can recharge in just 15-minutes using a standard electrical outlet. Although ultra-lightweight in the world of ebikes means it still weighs 30 pounds.

A ten-year old San Bernardino girl is set to graduate from Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa with two associate degrees, saying that for her, learning is “almost as fun as playing outside or riding a bike or whatever.”

Former New York transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan wrote that people typically fight improvements, then fight to keep them. That seems to be what’s happening in San Francisco, where people who fought plans to make the city’s Great Highway its newest car-free park are among its most frequent users.

A 55-year old woman suffered major injuries in Tuolumne County, in what police initially thought was a hit-and-run, but it turned out she lost control on a curve while riding with a group of competitive cyclists.

 

National

Good for her. A 34-year old mom learned to ride a bike for the first time so she could ride with her six-year old daughter.

Utah’s Zion National Park has a 15 mph radar unenforced speed limit, and you have to pull to the side and stop completely to allow shuttle buses to pass.

Carbondale, Colorado-based Revel Bikes is the latest bikemaker to go belly up, notifying dealers they are shutting down operations, as financial pressures force them to relinquish ownership to their bank despite just launching three new models. It happens, unfortunately. I wrote advertising for Alesis, which was forced into bankruptcy just days after successfully launching nine new models at the music industry’s NAMM trade show, when their bank cut off funding.

Missouri State University proves it can be done, reducing bike thefts to just five last semester thanks to a new security system. Of course, they only has 13 bikes stolen the previous semester, but still. 

Apparently, it’s perfectly legal for a cop to slash bicycle and trailer tires if they belong to homeless people, after a San Antonio, Texas police officer walked with a lousy 30-day suspension for doing exactly that, despite the dastardly deed being captured on his body-worn camera.

Still more tariff news, as Wisconsin-based Trek has informed retailers they will be raising their prices immediately due to the increase in import taxes.

A new photo essay reveals what it’s like to ride a bicycle in Minneapolis.

A Bronx website recommends the New York borough’s most beautiful bike lanes, for your next trip to the Big Apple.

Sad news from Florida, where Arnold “Arni” Nashbar, the founder of mail-order bicycle parts retailer Bike Nashbar, died at his Florida home earlier this week; he was 83.

 

International

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vision to “unleash a nation of cyclists” seems to have hit a plateau, with bicycling rates failing to match those heady pre-pandemic days, despite the country’s investment in bikeways.

Here’s one for your bike bucket list, as Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website recommends riding the Wild Atlantic Way along Ireland’s west coast, from the rugged cliffs of Donegal to the pristine beaches of Kerry. Seriously, you had me at “Ireland.”

Here’s one more for your bike bucket list, as Italy has just finished a short rail trail from Monte Mario to the shadow of Rome’s Vatican Dome — or maybe between Circus Maximus and the Colosseum, if you prefer.

The New York Times examines the new campaign to get people in the Netherlands to wear bike helmets, saying the Dutch love their bicycles, but helmets, not so much.

Speaking of the Netherlands, the country’s traffic safety efforts seem to be working, with traffic deaths down 42% since 2000.

Bollywood star Salmon Khan walked a group of children into a sporting goods store, and bought new bicycles for them as someone recorded it on video, allowing the kids to pick out the bikes they wanted.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from the UK, where a 55-year old man was killed competing in an East London velodrome when he collided with another cyclist, and went over his handlebars.

Olympic road race champ Kristen Faulkner gets her gold, courtesy of Cannondale.

 

Finally…

Why run down bike riders with a car when you can just electrocute them? Your next bike lock could work like a bear trap, but hopefully less painful.

And your next bike kit could represent your favorite football, uh, soccer team.

As long as your favorite side is Liverpool.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Nearly a death a year on Vista del Mar, no statute of limitations for CA hit-and-runs, and fight fed cuts to active transportation

March 24, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 83 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s even worse than we realized.

Last week, I mentioned that at least five people have been killed on Vista del Mar since former Mayor Eric Garcetti ripped out the road diet that was installed in 2017, after Los Angeles shelled out nearly $10 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of a 16-year old girl crossing over to the beach.

Now it turns out, according to LADOT, another 14 people were killed along Vista del Mar from 2003 to 2016.

That’s 19 lives needlessly lost in less than 23 years on the short, four-mile roadway, thanks a wide four-lane design that makes the seemingly bucolic beachfront street a virtual speedway for anyone with a heavy foot.

Yes, an average of nearly one death a year.

So maybe the three-county PCH isn’t SoCal’s killer highway after all, at least on a per-mile basis.

………

About damn time.

Somehow, we missed the news last year that the California legislature passed Carson Assemblymember Mike Gibson’s bill to eliminate the statute of limitations for hit-and-run.

AB 2984, named for the three-year old son of Gibson’s wife, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver 36 years ago, was signed by Gov. Gaven Newsom and is now law.

Which means the driver, who was never caught, could now be prosecuted if they ever find them.

Along with all the other heartless cowards who think they’ve gotten away with it, in a state where the overwhelming majority of hit-and-run drivers are never caught, let alone tried.

Gipson also sponsoring a bill in the current session that would require that drivers convicted of reckless driving install intelligent speed limitation systems in their cars, similar to how a breathalyzer can be required for drunk drivers.

Which is also about damn time.

………

This is exactly what I’ve been warning about.

Whatever your politics, cuts to funding for active transportation puts your safety, and everyone else’s, at risk.

So fight back.

Meanwhile, several states have banded together under the Clean Rides Network to find ways to fund projects the feds have abandoned.

And yes, California is one of them.

………

Streets For All is hosting a virtual lunch tomorrow with Dr. Ian Walker, who they describe as “an Environmental Psychologist who studies motonormativity – the shared bias that prevents us from judging motorized transportation rationally.”

………

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

Once again, someone appears to be deliberately sabotaging a bike trail, as a volunteer group warns about shards of barbed wire intentionally placed on Sacramento’s American River Parkway; so far, the only damage is flat tires, but someone could easily be seriously injured as a result of a blown tire.

A woman in Houston, Texas says a road-raging driver tried to intentionally ram her as she road her ebike, then yelled obscenities and attempted to provoke a confrontation when she tried to take a photo of the driver’s license plate; police say they are investigating.

No bias here. A writer for The Telegraph accuses “rich, Lycra-clad cyclists” of tearing through red lights while riding “hugely expensive” bikes paid for by taxpayers as part of Britain’s Cycle to Work rebate program, as if getting well-off people out of cars and onto bikes somehow doesn’t benefit everyone. Let alone all the not-so-well off people who have also benefitted.

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

A Miami cop has been disciplined for sitting on her ass while a dispute between a bicyclist and a motorist devolved into a full-on assault on the driver by bike riders taking part in an apparent rideout, remaining in her patrol car while the riders “kicked, punched, stomped, smashed a window and even hurled a bike” at the victim’s car.

………

Local  

City Watch looks forward to April 6th’s Koreatown Meets Hollywood CicLAvia.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reviews the documents, and says it will probably be up to a judge to determine whether Measure HLA, which requires that the city build out the mobility plan whenever streets get resurfaced, applies to Metro.

The former South Bay Bicycle Coalition, now known as SBBC+, offers a community proposal to reconfigure Redondo Beach’s Prospect Ave as a Complete Street.

A new play in Long Beach looks at life through the eyes of a child riding a red bicycle.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department is offering a $30,000 reward for the men who shot and killed Jose Manuel Rangel, following a confrontation on the Clara Street Bridge in Cudahy two years ago as he rode his bike home after visiting his mother.

 

State

Calbike has come out in opposition to AB 612, which would give fire departments more power to veto street safety projects, despite their obvious lack of traffic engineering training; as we’ve seen, fire fighters often oppose projects designed to save lives, citing unspecified delays in response times that are seldom born out in real life.

No bias here. The San Diego Union-Tribune questions whether it makes sense to pursue the city’s “preposterous” climate goals, arguing that its commitment to building transit and bike lanes is an “embrace of what feels like costly and empty virtue signaling.”

San Francisco becomes the first California city to install speed cams under a pilot program allowing a limited number in three Northern California and three South California cities, as well as on PCH in Malibu. Meanwhile, Los Angeles continues to sit on its ass and do nothing, as usual, as speed-related deaths continue to mount. 

 

National

A writer for The Atlantic sings the praises of ebikes, saying they may be slower than a car, but make your family life so much richer; meanwhile, another writer says they’re great, but not for everyone.

Bloomberg sings the praises of the late, great autodidact and polymath Lewis Mumford, who called out the dangers of overly car-centric cities over 70 years ago.

Take your dog or cat with you everywhere with a new $300 combination pet stroller/bike trailer that converts to a backpack. Hopefully without the animal in it.

Houston lawmakers decide to reinvent the wheel, sponsoring a bill to study whether bike lanes improve safety, as if all the other studies showing they do somehow don’t apply in Texas.

Maine’s highest court has sided with a 62-year old man who was ticketed for not riding single file as he was out with a friend, ruling that the state’s requirement to ride as far to the right as practicable is so vague it’s unenforceable, since only the person riding can decide how far to the right is safe to ride.

Seriously? A Boston cafe owner worries about the survival of her business after a new road diet and bike lanes were installed, as if being located on one of the city’s most dangerous streets for pedestrians is somehow good for her business.

 

International

No surprise here, as the world’s happiest countries are also places with the highest bicycling rates.

A writer for Momentum shares the most important things she learned on her first bike tour.

Bike Magazine shares the world’s ten most popular mountain biking destinations for your offroad bike bucket list.

Hundreds of Londoners turned out for the return of a drum and bass bicycle rave, led by a bicycling DJ and his cat.

More proof that bikes are good for business, as a rural Scottish cafe catering to bicyclists says if they didn’t they wouldn’t even be in business anymore.

A rising British comedian warns about the dangers of drunken bicycling after crashing his bikeshare bike while riding under the influence.

Life is cheap in Ireland, where a 29-year old mother of three will spend just four years behind bars for the hit-and-run death a 68-year old man riding a bicycle, while driving at not one, not two, not even three times the legal alcohol limit, but a full nine times over the line — yes, nine — after downing a dozen martinis before getting behind the wheel.

Famed painter Henri Matisse’s brother-in-law was one of us, as the struggling artist tried to borrow 150 francs to buy a Van Gogh in 1899, only to learn the other man had blown 500 francs on a new bicycle.

A 66-year-old Chinese grandmother has already biked solo through 12 countries across three continents, on a monthly pension of just $414 a month, despite taking up bicycling just a dozen years ago.

Bike riders in Sydney, Australia may soon have fewer stair to climb, with a $39 million ramp longer than two football fields replacing the stairs they’re currently forced to climb if they want to bike across the harbor.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch pro Mathieu van der Poel won Milan-San Remo after an early attack by Tadej Pogačar failed, leading to a three-way sprint to the finish joined by Filippo Ganna.

A British company plans to bring the world’s best cyclists back to the US next year for the first time since 2019, the five-stage Tour of Colorado will launch in September, assuming they can get all the necessary permits and clearances, and get it on the pro calendar.

 

Finally….

Your next bike seat could play grab-ass while you ride. Your next bicycle could be a knitting machine; thanks to Steven Hallett for the heads-up.

And build a custom bike for the tallest man in America, and make a friend for life.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

NM kids face murder in death of bike-riding scientist; killer Playa street claims fresh victim; Metro threatens suit to prevent safer streets

March 20, 2025 / / Comments Off on NM kids face murder in death of bike-riding scientist; killer Playa street claims fresh victim; Metro threatens suit to prevent safer streets

This is getting old.

Nearly two weeks in, I’m still struggling with Covid, and need a few more days before I get back to our usual updates. Just another of the many joys of diabetes, which can make Covid hit harder and last longer than it might otherwise.

Hopefully, we’ll be back on Monday to catch up on what we missed.

But there are a few stories this week that can’t really wait, so let’s do a quick update in the meantime.

………

It’s happened again.

Or rather, it happened last year, and the authorities are just now catching up.

According to multiple sources, three Albuquerque teenagers face charges for stealing a car, and intentionally crashing it into a man riding a bicycle while they recorded themselves laughing.

And if that sounds familiar, it should. And more than once.

The victim, a beloved physicist at the nearby Sandia National Laboratory, was killed when the kids “bumped” him with the car.

The 13-year old driver and the 16-year old egging them on from the back seat both face murder charges — as could the 11-year old waving a gun and laughing from the passenger seat.

Yes, I said eleven. With a rap sheep of violent crimes that makes John Gotti seem like an extra from Westside Story.

Apparently, New Mexico law allows them to be publicly named, and charged as adults.

Police became aware of the video shortly after the May 29, 2024, murder of 63-year old Scott Habermehl, but it apparently took until now to uncover the identities of his teen and preteen killers.

Habermehl was a dedicated bike commuter who was said to have ridden more than a quarter million miles over the last 30 years, and did absolutely nothing to cause his death.

The older teens each face felony charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death, and unlawful possession of a handgun.

The younger boy is likely to join them.

Thanks to Joel Falter for the heads up. 

……….

It’s happened again, again.

Because once again, an innocent person has been killed on Vista del Mar in Playa del Rey, eight years after then Councilmember Mike Bonin tried to fix the deadly street, only to have then Mayor Eric Garcetti rip it out after caving to angry pass-through drivers.

According to the Los Angeles Times, two cars — excuse me, drivers — collided in the 8200 block of southbound Vista del Mar, near Dockweiler Beach, with one car spilling over the embankment and killing a woman walking below.

Twentynine-year old Cecilia Milbourne died at the scene. A 70-something man also suffered minor injuries.

The crash occurred exactly where a road diet had been installed by Bonin after the city paid $9.5 million to the family of 16-year old Naomi Larson, who was killed by a cab driver as she was crossing the street in 2015.

That road diet was removed, along with other nearby bike lanes and other safety improvements, when Garcetti pulled the rug out from under Bonin, ordering them to be ripped out to appease drivers who were apparently willing to sacrifice a life or two if it meant they could have a little faster commute.

And reverting the road to a four lane speedway.

It only took a few years after that before the deadly roadway claimed another life. And two more after that.

Now, after another woman has been killed — at least the fifth in just ten years — that blood is on Garcetti’s hands, and everyone who demanded the removal of the safety improvements just so they could continue to go “zoom! zoom!”, innocent victims be damned.

Not to mention whoever designed the damn thing.

………

Metro has bizarrely come out against bus lanes and safer streets.

According to a post from Streets For All, the ostensibly safety-oriented county transportation agency is threatening to sue if they are forced to comply with Measure HLA when they make changes to the streets.

Even though the law clearly applies to any significant street projects, regardless of who is responsible for them.

Which is kind of like Metro arguing that speed limits and traffic signals don’t apply to them, either.

Here’s how Streetsblog’s Joe Linton responded to Metro’s threat.

So, Metro will fight the city in order not to install bus lanes, bike lanes, crosswalks, curb ramps, all approved a decade ago.

Metro is blocking routine upgrades to all the ways their riders get to bus stops and rail stations, plus blocking bus lane facilities that would improve Metro bus speeds.

Really.

Really, indeed.

It’s worth noting that Metro’s board is made up of elected officials and appointees from cities throughout LA County, and led by board chair and County Supervisor Janice Hahn.

So you know where to direct your anger.

………

Finally, Glendale is hosting their own CicLAvia-style open streets event May 31st on South Glendale Ave, in conjunction with Metro and Community Arts Resources (CARS).

Here’s how the press release describes it:

GLENDALE, Calif. (March 18, 2025) — Southern California’s newest open streets event, Let’s Go Glendale, will transform a portion of S Glendale Ave into a car-free space on Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The community is invited to explore the area on foot, bike, scooter, wheelchair or any other way that moves you.

The City of Glendale’s Open Streets Event, Let’s Go Glendale, is presented by Metro and produced by Community Arts Resources (CARS). This free day features a full schedule of carefully curated performances and activities along a meaningful vehicle-free route through the city’s south. People of all ages are invited to discover local businesses, enjoy delicious food, listen to live music and connect with the city’s vibrant cultures in the open streets. It’s an opportunity to walk, roll, shop and stroll through Glendale with a whole new perspective! A full schedule of event locations, activations and a detailed route map will be announced in April.

WHEN: Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

WHERE: City streets along S Glendale Ave will be closed to car traffic and opened to pedestrians. Full route details will be released soon.

ADMISSION: This event is free to attend and open to the public.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information visit, letsgoglendale.com

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

Freezing federal bike lane funding to Make America Drive Again, and bipartisan active transportation safety bill introduced

March 13, 2025 / / Comments Off on Freezing federal bike lane funding to Make America Drive Again, and bipartisan active transportation safety bill introduced
Day 72 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

The good news is, it turns out I don’t have the same virus I had before, after all.

The bad news is, I’ve got Covid instead, after carefully avoiding it for the first five years of the pandemic.

Good times.

So let’s see if I can get through this tonight. 

………

No surprise here.

As expected, a leaked memo shows the Trump administration will freeze all future bike lane and green infrastructure grants, so they can review them.

And yes, probably cancel anything issued during the Biden administration if the money hasn’t already been spent.

But don’t put it past them to attempt to claw some funding back, as they have already threatened to do with California’s high speed rail.

According to Streetsblog,

The memo cited as its authority five executive orders issued by the Trump administration that take aim at the diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility goals of the Biden administration, as well as the previous president’s efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of the nation’s transportation system, which Trump and Duffy have characterized as a so-called “Green New Deal.”

Those efforts were a centerpiece of previous DOT secretary Buttigieg’s strategy to implement the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, from which he allocated billions of dollars in discretionary grants to sustainable and equitable modes — but now that Duffy and Trump are holding the reins, they’ve signaled that they’ll use the same programs to vastly expand America’s consumption of fossil fuels instead.

Because really, what could be the downside to Making America Drive Again?

I mean, aside from more traffic deaths and serious injuries, more congestion, worse smog, and the utter destruction of our planet.

………

Meanwhile, a bipartisan, bicameral active transportation bill was introduced in both houses of Congress this week.

The Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety Act would expand federal funding for local governments to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.

This legislation is named in honor of Sarah Debbink Langenkamp, the American diplomat and mother who was killed while riding her bicycle in Maryland, just two weeks after being evacuated from Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

But as much as I appreciate the gesture, the bill’s chances in the current political climate make a snowball in hell look pretty good.

………

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

Oh, okay then. Boston’s mayor says she removed the plastic posts “protecting” some of the city’s bike lanes because they kept getting run over by drivers and looked awful. And yes, drivers seemed to take that as an open invitation to drive in the bike lanes.

No surprise here. Internal Ontario engineering documents show ripping out Toronto bike lanes won’t reduce congestion, but could make streets significantly more dangerous for everyone.

No bias here. The UK’s Traffic Watch says London traffic is grinding to a halt as road restrictions “squeeze the lifeblood” out of the city, while bike riders say the real problem is just too damn many cars.

Bike Radar responds to Sir Julian Lewis’ call in the British Parliament for mandatory bike bells, saying “cycling doesn’t need more bad ideas from unserious politicians.”

………

Local  

Metro is fast at work at the new LAX Transit Center, with the new bike path and people mover readily visible.

Pasadena residents are calling for safety improvements to protect bicyclists and pedestrians on North Fair Oaks Avenue, while reminding city leaders that we’re people, too.

 

State

A Moorpark man suffered serious head injuries when he was left hooked by a driver who was apparently more concerned about turning left into the driving range than looking for someone on a bicycle.

That’s more like it. An Oregon woman now faces a murder charge in the death of a 87-year old man riding a bicycle, after fleeing the scene when she crashed into him and another man he was riding with; that’s in addition to the previous vehicular manslaughter, DUI and hit-and-run charges.

 

National

This is why people keep dying on our streets. An Oregon pickup driver walked without a single day behind bars for killing a woman riding a bike with her son; he originally faced 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000, but an overly lenient DA and judge gave him a Get Out of Jail Free card, despite his long history of speeding.

“Dozens” of New Yorkers, led by a state Assembly member, demonstrated in support of a law that would require ebikes to carry license plates and be registered with the DMV. Although you’d think a legislator could get more people to turn out if they actually cared about it. And unless there were more people than you can see in the photo, that ain’t dozens.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A “beloved” Virginia elementary school principal suffered life-threatening injuries and faces a long road to recovery after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike home from school.

 

International

Momentum lists ten “hidden gem” bike routes to add to your bike bucket list, none of which are in California, of course. Although the only hidden thing about the Great Divide route is it can be hard to find in places. Or so I’m told.

A writer for Cycling Weekly fondly remembers his first road bike, despite it being “taken prematurely” from him.

A bike commuter for more than 20 years explains 13 mistakes beginning riders make.

Life is cheap in England, where a distracted food delivery rider walked without a single day behind bars for killing a man on a bicycle, despite riding an illegally modified ebike.

The pandemic bike boom is definitely over, as bike sales in the UK dropped to the lowest level in 50 years. Or maybe they’ve just reached the saturation point, and everyone who wants a bike has already got one, or four. It could happen. 

It will now cost you five US dollars every year to register your bicycle in the Zimbabwean city of Marondera.

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgian Tour de France stage winner Victor Campenaerts says he’s “not the next Remco [Evenepoel] or Jonas [Vingegaard] or Tadej [Pogačar],” instead, he’s “just a good cyclist.”

This year’s Redlands Bicycle Classic will take place April 9th through 13th.

 

Finally….

What’s biking through a little flood waters between friends? Drivers aren’t even waiting for bikes to leave the shop to run them down anymore. It’s not just a bike lane, it’s a parking space for your mobile workshop.

And protect your bike with the stench of death for the low, low price of just 280 bucks.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Charlie Brown ready to kick ball as CA ebike voucher launch announced — again, and PCH Master Plan meeting next week

December 4, 2024 / / Comments Off on Charlie Brown ready to kick ball as CA ebike voucher launch announced — again, and PCH Master Plan meeting next week
Just 27 short days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 
But not one LA city leader seems to give a damn about it.
Or if they do, they’re not saying anything. 

………

It’s Day 6 of the 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

So join me in thanking Beverly F, James L, Mitchell G, Walter L and Lionel M for their generous donations to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

So what are you waiting for? Stop what you’re doing and donate now!

It’s okay, we’ll wait. 

………

That chill you just felt was hell freezing over.

Streetsblog reports the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB, will finally launch the state’s long delayed ebike voucher program in just two weeks.

No, really, Charlie Brown. Go ahead and kick the football.

According to Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry, the program is now scheduled to launch on December 18th — 42 months after it was approved by the legislature, and almost exactly one year after the last promised launch date (see below).

Seriously, Charlie Brown, we won’t move it this time.

The income-qualified program is scheduled to go live at 6 pm on the 18th, and continue until all the vouchers have been claimed. Which will probably happen almost instantly, given the pent-up demand in a state of nearly 39 million.

According to Curry,

Eligible applicants must be at least 18 years old, with an income of 300 percent of the federal poverty level or less. That means, for example, a one-person household cannot make more than $45,180, and a four-person household no more than $93,600. More information on eligibility can be found here.

Applicants are encouraged to look at the Implementation Manual provided by CARB and ensure they have the proper documents ready to submit once applications go live. Income eligibility must be proven via any of the documents listed on page 16 of the manual (such as tax forms). Although the website encourages people to create a log-in now, before the launch window, it’s not clear how to do so.

Considering how well this program has been run up to this point — including choosing a program under criminal investigation by the state to manage it — they will undoubtedly clarify the process soon.

Right, Charlie Brown? Charlie Brown?

………

It’s now 349 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 42 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

Caltrans is hosting yet another in-person community workshop to discuss the feasibility of safety changes on SoCal’s killer highway through the ‘Bu.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the City of Malibu invite you to the 7th public workshop for the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Master Plan Feasibility Study.

The first three public workshops (Round One) gathered input from residents, businesses, and other stakeholders to identify safety priorities for the highway. Based on that input, the 4th, 5th, and 6th workshops (Round Two) focused on presenting and soliciting feedback on design alternatives and other recommendations to improve safety on PCH. Following Round Two, Caltrans developed a draft of the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study. The upcoming 7th workshop (Round Three) will present the draft Study’s key findings and release the document for a 30-day public review period.

………

It’s the last CicLAvia of the year.

Five miles of Sherman Way will be closed this Sunday from Lindley to Shoup for your riding, scooting, rolling and walking pleasure.

Or rather, closed to motor vehicles, and open to people.

………

Don’t forget tomorrow’s public meeting to consider installing what passes for protected bike lanes in LA on Forest Lawn Drive.

You know, so you don’t become one of Forest Lawn’s customers.

………

Metro is hosting a series of public meetings to gather input on the “transformative” Metro Vermont Transit Corridor Project.

  • Saturday, December 7, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM at Masjid Omar ibn Al-Khattab, 1025 W Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007.
  • Monday, December 9, 2024 from 6:00PM to 8:00 PM at Crenshaw Christian Center, 7901 Vermont Av, Los Angeles, CA 90044
  • Wednesday, December 11, 2024, from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM, virtual via Zoom at https://tinyurl.com/MetroVTC1211.
  • Wednesday, December 11, 2024, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at LA City College Student Union, Room A, 798 N. Heliotrope Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90029.
  • Monday, December 16, 2024 from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM, virtual via Zoom at https://tinyurl.com/MetroVTC1216.

Which means it’s your chance to tell them the busway improvements are great, but they need to do more to protect people on bicycles.

……..

Works for me.

A Toronto advocacy group has hired to lawyer to explore their options, as a new provincial law allows Premier Doug Ford to overrule local officials and rip out popular bike lanes.

Meanwhile, a Hamilton, Ontario bike lane installed after a bike-riding kindergarten teacher was killed is among the 16 bike lanes being considered for removal under a new law sponsored by provincial leader Doug Ford, which removes local oversight of bike lanes.

………

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

Derbyshire Police arrested a 23-year-old man for murder in Mansfield, England, accused of being the driver who deliberately rammed two people riding an ebike off the road, killing a young mother and resulting in the man with her losing his leg below the knee.

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

Police in Wiltshire, England are looking for a man riding a bicycle who punctured another man in the face, apparently with a screwdriver, for no apparent reason. Or at least none the bothered to tell us.

………

………

Local  

Glendale wants to know what you think about citywide traffic and mobility, which means it’s your chance to weigh in on how the city can protect your own safety. Meanwhile, dueling petitions call for “terminating” and preserving the temporary quick-build concrete barrier-protected bike lanes installed on the city’s Brand Blvd back in May.

Santa Clarita will install a pilot protected bike and pedestrian path on Orchard Village Road in the next few weeks.

This is who we share the road with. An LA County Sheriff’s deputy was canned after he was arrested in Long Beach for crashing into a wall and injuring the passenger in his car, while driving at nearly twice the legal alcohol limit.

 

State

They get it. The Santa Cruz Sentinel says California’s new daylighting law will improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians. It should be good for drivers, too. 

Oakland is delaying the promised cycle track it previously expedited following the death of a four-year old girl who was killed by a driver while riding with her father.

Streetsblog’s Roger Ruddick wants to know if Caltrans engineers are intentionally trying to kill bicyclists with their design for the new Vallejo diverging diamond deathtrap interchange. I’d put my money on old fashioned motorhead incompetency. 

Sad news from Rohnert Park, where 69-year old bicycling booster and local cycling team manager Phil Heiman died in a freak accident, after swallowing a bee while warming up for a bike race; a 45-mile “scone ride” will be held in his honor this Friday.

 

National

Slate examines why it’s so darn hard to stop driving, finding that people tend to get stuck in their habits until something happens to make them find a better alternative. Gas shortage, anyone?

Outside named All Bodies on Bikes cofounder Marley Blonsky one of their 2024 Outsiders of the Year for her work to make bicycling more inclusive for riders of all sizes, one group ride at a time; another choice was Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay, the first Black rider to win a stage at the Tour de France.

Electrek looks at the best ebikes, scooters and accessories they saw at the recent Micromobility America show, including hydrogen-powered bikes and a tricycle bucket ebike.

Apparently, not even national parks are safe from hit-and-run drivers, as a 70-year old Hawaiian man was severely injured in a hit-and-run while riding his bike inside Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

The rich get richer, as bike and pedestrian friendly Tucson, Arizona gets more protected bike lanes in the downtown area.

Good idea. An Arizona foundation created by the father of a fallen bicyclist is working with software engineering faculty and students at Arizona State University to develop a “dashcam” for bikes, which attaches to your handlebars and connects to your cellphone to record the license number, images and data of any car that comes too close to your bike.

The Ukrainian immigrant charged with killing 17-year old national team cyclist Magnus White in Colorado last year will face trial in March, after the planned December trial date was delayed due to the absence of a key witness; Yeva Smilianska is charged with reckless vehicular homicide.

A 79-year old Ohio writer says “ebikes are a good choice for many aging riders who still have decent balance, reflexes and vision.” Sounds about right to me.

A 56-year old Texas woman was found a day after she was separated from her husband while riding in a state park; she abandoned her bike after suffering a flat, wandered five miles in a circle before ending up back in the same spot she left her bike, then walked with it until she stumbled on a ranger station 20 miles from where she was last seen.

A former employee of a Richmond, Virginia TV station is trying to find the Good Samaritan who helped him while he was unconscious following a mountain bike crash 16 long years ago, calling for help and even returning his bike to his workplace.

 

International

Momentum selects seven of the best new bike routes around the world to check out in the coming year, including New York’s Empire State Trail and The Great American Rail-Trail, a 3,700-mile continuous trail from Washington, D.C., to Washington State that’s still in the works.

More proof that life is cheap in the UK, where a 75-year old double-decker bus driver walked without a day behind bars for fleeing the scene after crashing into a 13-year old boy riding his bike, but at least he won’t be able to drive again until he’s 76. If you want to know why no one is safe on the streets, this is a good place to start.

A pair of British university educators examine why being located near a bicycle network can boost home property values. Something that holds true on this side of the Atlantic, too. 

A UK cancer charity is sponsoring a fundraising ride along the grueling 724 mile Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift route, riding each of the nine stages a day before the pros to raise money to fight cancer.

 

Competitive Cycling

Apparently, not even the world’s best cyclists are safe from careless drivers, as two-time Olympic and 2024 Vuelta champ Remco Evenepoel suffered a broken shoulder blade, hand and rib, along with bruised lungs and a dislocated collarbone when he was doored by the driver of a postal van while on a training ride in Belgium; witnesses say he was “completely hunched over and extremely pale” after the crash.

The head of New Zealand’s national cycling teams apologized to her family for the “appalling” treatment cyclist Olivia Podmore endured as part of the country’s national team, leading to her suspected suicide in 2021 just one day after the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games, after she was left off the team.

 

Finally…

If the city won’t change the signs to prevent parking in a bike lane, just change ’em yourself. When you’re already drunk and riding your bike with an open bottle of purloined wine, it’s not the best idea to threaten to bite the cops busting you.

And that feeling when your final wish for one last bike ride depends on whether the funeral home can find a tandem hearse.

Not that, you’d be feeling anything at that point. But still.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Not so much for safety as a shared responsibility, more or less on bike lanes, and just try surviving without one

November 22, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 38 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 
But sure, raise your hand if you’ve heard a single LA city leader so much as mention it. 

………

He gets it.

A writer for Fast Company says the common refrain of “safety is a shared responsibility” — or “a two-way street” in the parlance of too many newspaper editors — misses the point, absolving those who are really responsible for this country’s inexcusably high rate of traffic deaths.

Innocuous though it may seem, the refrain encapsulates much of what’s wrong with road safety in the U.S., where crash death rates are at least double other rich countries, from Japan to Finland to Canada.

In reality, the duty to prevent collisions should fall on the road engineers, car companies, and public officials who create the system in which people drive, bike, or walk—and not on road users themselves. By lumping everyone together, the phrase blurs that distinction, allowing those who can do the most to save lives to dodge accountability.

It’s worth giving it a quick read, because there are a lot of people to blame for the rising death toll on our streets.

Starting with the people who build and market oversized and over-powered vehicles virtually designed to kill. Not to mention the engineers and politicians who build the roads they speed on.

But the actual victims, not so much.

Graphic from Bike Santa Clarita. 

………

Today’s common theme is bike lanes, And more bike lanes.

Or fewer bike lanes, even, in a few cases.

Velo says bike lanes make the road safer for everyone, not just bicyclists, citing a new study showing that adding bike lanes to a busy intersection makes drivers slow down, whether going straight or turning right.

No surprise here, as San Diego’s notoriously anti-bike lane OB Rag picked up the anti-bike lane screed from the Washington Post we debunked yesterday. And trust me, you don’t want to read the comments. 

A Petaluma op-ed considers the health benefits of the city’s bike lanes, including encouraging people to bike instead of driving.

You’ve got to be kidding. Quebec’s anti-bike provincial government covers its bases by amending the bill allowing them to overrule local governments to rip out bike lanes, by absolving themselves of any liability for anyone killed or injured after one is removed.

Seriously? City officials in Bangkok ripped out a new bike lane just one day after it was installed, reopening the lane to motor vehicles and apologizing for the traffic “chaos” it caused. Never mind that drivers likely would have adjusted to the change if they gave them half a chance.

And heading back to Quebec, a tongue-in-cheek new game clarifies the risks to riders once the lanes are removed. I lasted a whopping 51 seconds before dying in a dooring; thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

………

The OC Wheelmen say it’s starting to look a lot like party time.

………

Yes, that pretty much sums up the value of hi-viz.

………

It’s now 338 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

Local  

You’re invited to attend the official opening of the new Bouquet Canyon Trail in Saugus this Monday.

 

State

Calbike is hosting a Zoom meeting December 3rd to unveil their priorities to make California’s streets safer and more sustainable.

More bad news from the Victorville area, where a man riding a bicycle was critically injured by a hit-and-run driver in nearby Apple Valley Thursday night.

Ventura nonprofit Bikes 4 a Cause will offer a free class to teach kids to ride a bicycle tomorrow.

Bad news from Northern California, where a man was killed while either riding or walking his bicycle in Del Norte County.

 

National

Singletraks offers 13 gifts for the “badass” modern mountain biking women in your life.

If you bought your kid a Nerf Barrage Bike Helmet from Walmart, it’s been recalled because they don’t meet mandatory federal safety regulations and could result in a head injury. Never mind why the hell you’d put your kid in a Nerf helmet to begin with. 

That’s more like it. A 27-year old Las Vegas man will spend up to ten years behind bars — and at least four — after copping a plea to killing an ebike rider while speeding and driving under the influence with a suspended license. Although maybe someone should tell the TV station the victim probably had a name, too. 

A writer in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown says the site of the old Colorado State University Rams football stadium would make the perfect site for a bike park to serve kids and adults. I once saw the Rams kicker set the NCAA record for the longest field goal there — which lasted about half an hour until someone else at another college broke it. 

Des Moines, Iowa opened a new bike and pedestrian bridge over the Racoon River.

A Texas man will spend the next 42 months behind bars after pleading guilty to stealing six bikes worth more than $100,000 from Lance Armstrong’s storage locker; no word on whether Lance ever got them back. Although if it makes you feel better, one of the bikes was only worth 500 bucks.

Tragic news, as it turns out the Mississippi woman killed in a dispute over a bicycle that we mentioned yesterday was shot multiple times by her own 29-year old daughter, who now faces a murder charge along with another man.

 

International

Road.cc recommends budget-friendly gifts under the equivalent of $68 for the bicyclist in your life. Hint: You’re probably the bicyclist in your life. Just saying. 

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as Momentum offers a guide to biking in Reykjavik, Iceland. Better yet, you’re only 40 miles or so from the active volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula. 

That’s more like it. A British driver with a history of speeding got a well-deserved eight years behind bars for killing a 12-year old boy riding a bicycle, after recklessly weaving while speeding through traffic and roaring his engine.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 90-year old Irishman — from Tipperary, no less — is keeping fit by riding his new ebike, after years riding a racing bike.

Aussie adventure cyclist Jimmy Ashby — named Australian Geographic’s Young Adventurer of the Year for 2019 — spent the last 11 months riding his bike from Asia to the Middle East to North America and home again. So what did you do this year?

 

Competitive Cycling

British road champion Pfeiffer Georgi still won’t watch video of her crash at the Tour de France Femmes, when she went over her handlebars in a mass crash and fractured her neck, but she says she’s ready to get off her sofa and back onto her bike — and hopefully make it back to the Tour next year.

Remco Evenepoel’s road to the 2025 Tour de France runs through an American wind tunnel.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be both recycled and recyclable. You can never have enough lights on your bike — or a jersey that says you’re packing.

And if the cops can catch a violent bikejacker less than a day after installing bike path security cams, maybe they should have done it just a tad sooner.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Open letter to SaMo City Council — Ensure fairness before approving Selective Traffic Enforcement funds today

November 12, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 48 days until LA fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

We have a time-sensitive matter to discuss.

The Santa Monica City Council is going to address a motion to accept a $300,000 grant from the Office of Traffic Safety as part of their pro forma consent calendar at today’s meeting.

The purpose of the grant is to fund more Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operations by the Santa Monica Police Department, in which officers ticket anyone who commits a violation on the road that could endanger vulnerable road users.

But as you’ll see below, that isn’t always enforced equally, fairly or equitably.

Longtime Santa Monica bike advocate and former LACBC Board Member Dr. Michael Cahn wrote the following open letter to the council, calling attention to the windshield bias and other problems inherent in these operations.

So I’m going to step aside, and let Dr. Cahn do the talking today.

You can do some talking of your own by contacting the Santa Monica City Councilmembers prior to today’s 5:30 pm meeting, to call for fairer police enforcement in bike/ped safety operations before approving Item 5D — particularly if you live, work or ride in Santa Monica.

And if you’re one of those unfortunate bike riders who was ticketed in one of the previous operations, they especially need to hear from you.

We’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, to catch up on anything we missed today.

……….

Dear Council Members,

Before you give a green light to the OTS Grant for 300.000 $ for Selective Traffic Enforcement, let me give you some feedback, from the handlebars and from the sidewalk, looking back at how these grants have worked in the past.

They used to be awarded for Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety, and they were always conducted “through the windshield”. The motto was: Drivers are driving, now let’s keep the pedestrians and cyclists out of harm’s way. To do that we must ticket them when they ride their bikes on the sidewalk, we must educate them to cross at the intersection.

There is a big monster in town, it is called vehicle traffic, and it will snap a pedestrian, a cyclist here and there. The main job of SMPD Traffic Division is to keep the monster rolling through town, and keep those who use the streets without a license plate out of the path of this dangerous beast. Not exactly the best way to address the source of the danger, methinks.

It does not look good when an SMPD Sergeant is parked at the intersection and ignores how this Prius endangers the pedestrian in the crosswalk (Montana):

All photos by Dr. Michael Cahn

But the cyclist on the sidewalk is quickly found and stopped and “enforced”:

Sometimes crossing the intersection without a green light is safer for the cyclist, but the officer only cares about the rules:

SMPD knows that riding bicycles on Lincoln Blvd is hairy, so they do it on the sidewalk:

But the black kid is being hassled for doing the same — riding his bicycle on the sidewalk on Lincoln:

We all sometimes think cars can not be avoided. Our police force, too, is fully subscribed to this attitude. We once had a transportation management division in this city, but how do you manage the king of the American road? The car is in charge, but CicLAvias and other open streets events come and go.

And yet, we must manage and challenge all this driving. We must do less of it, and we must do it less often. And the SMPD, too, must project this goal of less driving. One way to do this is to contradict the idea that driving is always necessary (it is not), that we all drive (we do not). Imagine the citywide moment of education and insight that would happen if our own police department challenged the poison of motonormativity. Encourage the SMPD to challenge the notion that driving is the default. Let’s see these officers on their bicycles enforcing the law on Wilshire, for a change.

Yes, they do ride their bicycles on the beach path, but are they big and strong enough to do it in town? In town the bicycles are transported on the back of a car.

Chicken anybody?

SMPD avoiding ride bicycles on city streets (“we are not crazy”):

Every time the SMPD is not riding a bicycle in traffic, it gives us cyclists the sense that we are just a crazy suicidal minority. And it gives all the drivers out there the same message: Crazy cyclists. What we need from them is to share the road with us on a bicycle, and to bring their authority and their uniforms and their tickets to the bike lane, and to deal with the drivers parking on the bike lane, turning without indicating, overtaking dangerously, ignoring crosswalks, opening doors without looking.  This should be part of the 300K grant from OTS!

You want safer streets in Santa Monica? Put your officers on bicycles and let them ride up and down Wilshire, up and down Lincoln. That is where the education and the enforcement needs to happen. Enforcement of our drivers, the single most dangerous road participants

You know you want to do it, just see how you imagined the SMPD as an all terrain mountain cyclists force. No road chickens here.

Please make approval of item 5D contingent on consideration of the following items

  1. Highly visible bicycle patrols on heavily trafficked streets: Film it, Share it: Show us and show the community that cars are not always necessary.
  2. Conduct Crosswalk Sting Operations on Montana, Wilshire and Santa Monica Blvd etc. Film it, Share it.
  3. Enforcement of drivers who stop or park on bike lanes.
  4. Enforcement of illegal parking and waiting around schools: Lincoln Middle School has crossing guards. Their good work is made impossible by parents defiantly waiting in their cars on bike lanes and in alleys in the vicinity. Saint Monica School proudly displays long lines of illegal parking and waiting on California Ave over multiple blocks.
  5. Revisit the sidewalk riding ordinance.

Thank you !

— Dr Michael Cahn

………

It’s now 328 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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