Tag Archive for traffic safety

LA Times endorses Healthy Streets LA initiative in March vote, and SCAG to study turning highways into boulevards

Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to hear the dangers we face just walking and biking on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

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Big news for the coming March election, as the Los Angeles Times has joined a broad range of community groups to endorse the Healthy Streets LA initiative.

Frustrated by the lack of political will and bureaucracy, street safety advocates collected enough signatures to put Healthy Streets LA, or Measure HLA, on the March ballot. The initiative would force the city to carry out the improvements in the Mobility Plan. Any time city departments repave at least one-eighth of a mile of street, they would have to add the improvements outlined in the plan, whether bike lanes, bus lanes, pedestrian enhancements or fixes to ease vehicle traffic.

This makes sense. When city crews have to repaint the lines when repaving a street, why not restripe the roads according to the Mobility Plan at the same time? Yet in a city as large as Los Angeles, making this a smooth process is not always easy. The multiple departments responsible for street paving, engineering and transportation safety struggle to coordinate and have missed opportunities to install Mobility Plan projects. The mandate of Measure HLA would, ideally, prompt City Hall to better organize street work programs and make Mobility Plan improvements a part of routine road maintenance.

The paper concludes their editorial this way.

Measure HLA has broad support among neighborhood councils, environmental, labor and business groups. Their members understand that Los Angeles needs to evolve into a city that is safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users and, yes, even motorists. The plan recognizes that Angelenos will still drive — it includes 80 miles of streets that are prioritized for vehicle travel and projects that help drivers maintain safe, consistent speeds and reliable travel times.

The rising number of traffic deaths is a preventable tragedy. Voters have the power to make Los Angeles’ streets safer. Vote yes on Measure HLA.

I couldn’t agree more.

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The Southern California Association of Governments, aka SCAG, has received a federal grant to study the possibility of removing some SoCal highways, and possibly converting them to boulevards.

They could start with the proposal to remove the purposeless 90 Freeway stub, and converting it to housing and a Marina Central Park.

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29 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law, and counting.

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

San Diego police arrested 32-year old Alvaro Jovani Lopez for torching the Mission Valley memorial for fallen bicyclist and father Matt Keenan, destroying a banner and Keenan’s ghost bike; they found Lopez already behind bars for a parole violation. No reason was given for his dastardly deed.

Life is cheap in Wisconsin, where a Madison man who strung wire across a bike bridge, nearly decapitating a bike rider, walked with a gentle caress on the wrist when the judge sentenced him to a lousy four years probation.

No bias here. Underground hip-hop artist Gorilla Nems, aka Travis Doyle, took out his anger on New York’s Complete Street transformation over the past decade or so, telling a podcast host “Fuck bike lanes…this ain’t Copenhagen,” while instructing his followers to ignore walk signals and just cross the street anytime they want, after looking both ways.

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

A 59-year old New York woman has emerged from a months-long coma after she was struck by a bikeshare rider as she was crossing the street; a 62-year old man was ticketed for riding salmon and running a red light.

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Local 

The Metro board delayed a vote to award Metro Bike management to Lyft, after ride hail drivers and delivery riders teamed with bikeshare workers to protest the proposed contract. But you’ll have to subscribe the Daily News or find a way around the paper’s draconian paywall if you want to read about it.

Glendale residents complained they were left out of the decision making process for the city’s new bike plan, even though they say they’ll be directly affected by a proposed bike path.

 

State

Police in Huntington Beach are using bait bikes to bust bike thieves. Something the LAPD still won’t do over fears they’ll be accused of entrapment.

They get it, sort of. A Simi Valley paper says safety is a two-way street, but drivers shoulder most of the responsibility to look out for vulnerable bike riders. Although they should go to cliche jail for trotting out the tired two-way street metaphor.

Oakland got a clear message to fix their crumbling roads, when the city agreed to a $6.5 million settlement with a woman who was paralyzed when her bike hit a pothole.

Six Santa Rosa teenagers were arrested for stabbing a 41-year old man to steal his bicycle last week.

 

National

The 18-year old Las Vegas man accused of deliberately killing former Bell police chief Andreas Probst in a hit-and-run last year is now facing an attempted murder charge in a separate case for the gang stabbing of a Las Vegas man.

Life is cheap in Indiana, where a woman faces just a year behind bars after confessing to a hit-and-run that left a bike-riding man with multiple broken bones.

That’s more like it. Instead of fighting bike infrastructure, residents of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park neighborhood are actually calling on the mayor to finish a new bike boulevard.

An “avid” New York bicyclist tells tourists the best routes for exploring the city by bicycle.

They get it, sort of, too. New York officials unveiled a new campaign encouraging bike riders to be more courteous and look out for pedestrians, while admitting that drivers pose the real danger to people walking.

Bike advocates say New York has a new “Boulevard of Death,” marking the failure of the city’s Vision Zero program after ten years.

A former Maryland Director of Planning and Zoning was indicted for the alleged drunken hit-and-run that killed a bike-riding man.

A North Carolina paper examines how bike riders and pedestrians are coping with the added danger as more drivers take to local roads.

 

International

Road.cc asks bike experts if the switch to internal cables has been worth it. Meanwhile, Cycling Weekly takes up the burning topic of whether bike bells really have a useful reason to exist.

The violin belonging to a British musician was somehow reconstructed, despite being broken into over 100 pieces when he was hit by a bus while riding a bicycle; unfortunately, he wasn’t as lucky, losing a leg as a result of the crash.

A new Danish study examines how the country encouraged greater bike helmet usage without mandating them.

A new United Arab Emirates bike ride took bicyclists through all seven emirates in seven days.

Adding insult to literal injury, an American tourist was fined for illegally stepping into the path of an ebike rider — while he was in a coma as a result of the collision; the ticket was withdrawn after he hired a lawyer to fight it.

 

Competitive Cycling

The future of the Tour of Britain, the Women’s Tour and other British races could be in doubt because the organizer of the races entered liquidation proceedings, after losing their license to conduct the races over an unpaid fee totaling the equivalent of over $884,000.

Australian pro Luke Plapp was left with a shredded kit and some truly ugly road rash after a nasty fall on a descent in the Tour Down Under.

Aussie sprinter Sam Welsford celebrated his 28th birthday by winning his third stage at the Tour Down Under on Friday. Today’s race was conducted yesterday, because they live in the future down there. 

 

Finally…

It’s hard to use a bike lane that’s blocked by a shitload of sugar beets. Stealing bikeshare bikes back from the thieves who stole them. A micro musette for mademoiselle et monsieur

And we may have to deal with rubbernecking drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about nuzzling giraffes.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Caltrans meager PCH safety efforts, a peloton ticketed for following too close, and a call for a life-saving super power

It’s the last four days of the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Last year, it took a real Chrismukah miracle to top the previous year, with more than 25 donations in the last five days.

We’ll need at least that many this time around just to catch up — let alone set a new record for the 9th year in a row. 

So thanks to Steven H and Joshua H (no relation) for their generous support for SoCal’s best source bike news and advocacy.

But time is rapidly running out for this year’s fund drive. 

So don’t wait.

Stop what you’re doing, and give now!

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Days left to launch the California ebike incentive program this fall as promised: 0

Seriously, is anyone really surprised that the California Air Resources Board missed their latest self-imposed deadline once again?

Anyone?

Bueller? Bueller?

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If you haven’t already, sign the petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to listen to the dangers we face just walking and biking on the streets of LA, and city’s ongoing failure to build the safer, more livable transportation system they promised.
Then share it with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

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Even reporters for the Los Angeles Times question whether Caltrans meager safety “improvements” on PCH will be enough to make a difference.

Writing about Monday’s performative press conference to announce a lousy $4.2 million in safety work for the 21 miles of PCH that snakes along the Pacific Coast — which works out to just $200,000 a mile — they almost immediately called the announcement into question.

While there is a process each project will have to undergo, “this is not a ‘business as usual’ approach,” Omishakin said as cars whizzed past.

After several deadly pedestrian crashes that roiled Malibu and sparked calls for change, business as usual won’t be enough, transportation activists said. Damian Kevitt, founder of Streets Are for Everyone, told The Times the “design of PCH through Malibu is simply and clearly deadly.”

“It needs to be a transformed from a highway where people can do 60 to 80 to even 100 mph through residential [areas] and businesses, with families and cyclists, unprotected, just a couple feet away,” Kevitt said.

Hopefully, Caltrans can demonstrate a little more urgency than the $34.6 million project currently underway to sync red lights along the highway, presumably to make speeding drivers stop for red while the typically non-existent non-speeding drivers on the highway will see greens.

The project was approved seven years ago, but because the highway is under California Department of Transportation jurisdiction, it had to be reviewed by the state.

“The Caltrans review process, while undoubtedly necessary for ensuring regulatory compliance and safety standards, proved to be more cumbersome than anticipated,” said Matt Myerhoff, Malibu’s public information officer.

Gee, you think?

Although red lights are typically synced to smooth traffic flow, rather than control speeds.

Meanwhile, Caltrans pledged to study PCH to determine if it can be designated as a safety corridor, in which fines for speeding can be doubled.

But f the mounting death toll on the highway isn’t prima facie proof of the problem, I don’t know what yet another study will accomplish. Then again, you could quadruple the fines, and it won’t matter if the drivers don’t get caught.

Which points to the sheer stupidity of California’s speed cam pilot program only being allowed in Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach, along with three NorCal cities, while completely ignoring the state’s deadliest corridors.

But still.

Members of Seetoo’s Fix PCH Action Team, including Kevitt, say the seven years it took Caltrans to allow Malibu to begin the signal synchronization project “doesn’t indicate that Caltrans is prioritizing safety at all.”

Collecting and studying the data could mean “years and years more delay before they even decide if they can slow down this highway that is known to be deadly,” Kevitt said.

Chris Wizner, another action team member, told The Times he wondered how many more deaths it would take for Caltrans to slow down PCH.

That’s easy.

The formula has always been N+1.

It will take one more death than we’ve already suffered, no matter how many there have already been.

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A Santa Barbara cop takes a turn at demonstrating he knows nothing about riding in a peloton, without saying it, as a group of Santa Barbara bicyclists got delayed tickets in the mail for following one another too closely, after one rider went down and took several other riders down with him.

Here’s the full text of the tweet.

Insult to injury rant: Group ride Santa Barbara to Ventura & back Nov. 21, a cyclist in the peloton front crashed & took down several of us. EMTs came & took me for a brain scan. I’m fine. Cop pretended to help me as he asked my name etc.

I just got a ticket for “following too close”. In a peloton. Seriously. $235 or contest it in court.

I’m tempted on principle. Would love to confront this cop & ask why he didn’t give me the ticket then & there (others also got tickets in the mail). He probably knows we would have pitched a fit.

Disgraceful. I’m lying there on the ground in paid, bloody & nauseous & this MF cop is writing me up for a traffic violation. No wonder people don’t trust the police. “Protect & Serve”. Bullshit.

Thanks to Tim Rutt for the heads-up.

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Somehow this one slipped under the radar, as Robert Leone forwards the results of the Universal Postal Union’s 2023 letter writing competition.

Okay, maybe I know why this one slipped under the radar.

Regardless, the UPU asked children to write on the following topic:

“Imagine you are a super hero and your mission is to make all roads around the world safer for children. Write a letter to someone explaining which super powers you would need to achieve your mission.”

The winner, a 13-year old girl from Kenya, requests a simple super power — the ability to write posters that will make drivers slow down, because children are the most helpless road users.

Amen.

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Thanks to Megan Lynch for forwarding the following video, which includes these key points:

  • Soul-crushing car traffic makes the Yosemite experience very frustrating
  • That frustration gets unloaded on retail workers there
  • You should definitely ride a bike in Yosemite
  • But don’t leave anything on your bike because even in Yosemite thieves will strip it to the frame

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‘Tis the season.

A San Diego group is continuing a five decade tradition of giving, by working to build 150 bikes to give to kids on Christmas Day.

A Cedar Rapids, Iowa bike shop turned into Santa’s workshop as volunteers joined staffers to refurbish 50 bikes for kids in need.

An Alabama Baptist church collected more than 300 bikes to give to area kids for Christmas.

The work of Florida’s legendary Jack the Bike Man lives on, as the charity he founded gave 100 bicycles to people in need, despite his death earlier this year.

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

Eureka scrapped plans for a buffered bike lane on Myrtle Street, caving to angry residents who prefer convenient parking to protecting human lives, as long as those lives get around on two wheels instead of four.

No surprise here, as compromises forced on a Brooklyn protected bike lane by people loathe to sacrifice parking or traffic lanes resulted in a project that virtually no one is happy with.

No bias here. A New York councilmember calls for mandatory licensing and registration of ebikes, rhetorically asking “How many actual ebikes do you see stopping at a red light or observing traffic laws?” Just wait until someone tells him about cars and their drivers, which are already registered and licensed, and regularly break traffic laws anyway.

Evidently, verbally abusing and repeatedly swerving a car into a woman riding a bike isn’t illegal anymore, after police in the UK “mistakenly” close the books on a road raging driver.

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Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton applauds yesterday’s deep dive on dooring in the Los Angeles Times.

Metro will offer free bus and train rides on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, along with free Metro Bike Share for the first half hour from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day.

 

State

A man was arrested in Santa Ana Saturday after walking out of an Irvine Walmart with a new beach cruiser. Seriously, if you’re going to steal a bike, at least steal a better one.

Streetsblog zeros in on San Diego’s new Complete Streets policy, examining how advocates pushed for and won a better approach to street design.

A local San Francisco website says sales data doesn’t back up claims from merchants along Valencia Street that the new centerline bike lane has killed their business, showing just a 6% drop in retail sales during construction of the bike lanes. Although to be fair, a 6% drop can mean the difference between profit and loss for some businesses, but it’s a far cry from what they claimed.

At the same time, San Francisco website Underscore_SF says the controversial centerline bike lane was never going to work, and San Francisco should move the bike lanes to a more traditional curbside configuration.

 

National

GCN offers six top tips for descending on a road bike.

REI’s second-gen e-cargo bike is on sale for its lowest price ever; CNN called it the year’s best ebike, cargo or otherwise. At less than $1140, you could easily buy one with California’s ebike voucher program, and have change left over — if the voucher program ever actually launches.

More churn in the ebike world, as Harley-Davidson sold its Serial 1 ebike division to Florida ebike maker LEV Manufacturing.

Not surprisingly, bike riders in Ashland, Oregon support plans to install more bike parking in the public right-of-way.

A pair of alleged bike burglars face charges for breaking into Lance Armstrong’s storage unit — yes, that Lance Armstrong — and stealing four complete bicycles and a couple frames valued at $105,000; it’s not clear if any of the bikes were recovered.

A Texas man will face two counts of criminally negligent homicide for killing a married couple as they rode their bikes this past June; he was allegedly texting when he hit their bikes, which explains why he says he never saw them.

More on the bizarre ruling from the Illinois Supreme Court that says cities aren’t liable for injuries to bike riders due to bad pavement because streets without bike lanes aren’t intended for bicycles.

Inmates in a New Hampshire county jail are learning to repair bicycles, working towards their master bike technician certification while serving their time. Which should provide a nice incentive to commit another crime if they get released before earning their certification.

A Long Island woman faces a host of charges, including 2nd degree assault and disabling an Interlock device, for speeding through a parking lot where a triathlon was being held and slamming into a competitor riding his bike, leaving the victim with a traumatic brain injury and cervical spine fracture.

 

International

Toronto’s paramedic’s union said a controversial protected bike lane cost an ambulance crew 30 seconds getting through an intersection because drivers couldn’t get out of their way. Maybe someone should tell them those little car-tickler plastic posts are designed to bend, so you can drive right over them. 

Sad news from the UK, where popular industry pro Nils Amelinckx died after a lengthy battle with stage four bowel cancer; Amelinckx founded the nonprofit Rider Resilience to promote the use of bicycles as medicine, as well as the bicycling wing of gear maker Lyon Equipment. He was just 36.

Grieving British parents called for mandatory speed limiters on all motor vehicles, after a speeding driver climbed the curbed and killed their 14-year old daughter as she rode in a separated bike lane.

Bankrupt Dutch ebike maker VanMoof intends to rise Phoenix-like from the ashes with plans for a new e-scooter.

The BBC examines how the Finnish coastal city of Oulu became the winter bicycling capital of the world, despite its location just 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Vuelta released its course for next year, starting and ending with time trials, and “savage” climbing in between.

 

Finally…

Aquaman is one of us. This is what it would look like if Tony the Tiger sponsored a cycling team.

And your next e-cargo bike could haul a baby grand piano.

Or a grown-up one, even.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Much ado about nothing for PCH safety, Los Angeles Times talks dooring, and “Share the Road” told to hit the road

Just 5 days left in the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Only one person donated yesterday. So thanks to Jeff S for his generous support to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!

We’ve fallen behind last year’s record pace, so we’ve got some ground to make up in order to top the previous year for the 9th year in a row.

So don’t wait — give now!

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Days left to launch the California ebike incentive program this fall as promised: 1

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If you haven’t already, sign — and share — the petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to listen to the dangers we face just walking and biking on the streets of LA, and city’s ongoing failure to build the safer, more livable transportation system they promised.

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Call it much ado about nothing.

Caltrans made a big deal yesterday about plans to spend a whole $4.2 million to improve safety along a 21-mile stretch of PCH in Malibu, which works out to a measly $200,000 per mile.

Not exactly the major investment they made it out to be.

According to LAist, those improvements include,

  • Optical speed bars
  • 13 speed safety feedback signs
  • Enhanced striping to warn drivers of upcoming curves
  • Painting the speed limit on the roadways, and
  • Refresh signs designating the PCH safety corridor

None of which is likely to save a single life on Southern California’s killer highway.

Here’s how local radio station 99.1 KBUU, aka RadioMalibu.net, described the chest-beating news conference.

Caltrans and the state of California held a major media event on Malibu Monday, but a city clamoring for changes to Pacific Coast Highway was left empty handed.

The state Transportation Secretary travelled from Sacramento, but did not have any new traffic calming plans to disclose. 

Toks Milshakin repeated the list of quick fixes already disclosed by Caltrans: a $4.2 million set of new lane striping, speed limit signage, and other small safety projects.  

The news conference produced the news that the state will not be able to immediately lower the speed limit on any stretch of PCH.

No new speed study has been conducted, or will be conducted soon. 

No change in the speed limit.

No changes in design.

Caltrans safety manager Lee Haber said right now, that the state cannot lower the speed limits on PCH. 

And that’s just the beginning of a scathing report from the local media, which has been covering the mounting toll on the deadly highway for more than two decades.

Along with local safety advocates, who have been fighting for changes just as long.

Then there was this response, after Malibu Mayor Steve Uhring lauded Caltrans for taking time out to listen to city officials, saying he feels very confident they made some big strides yesterday.

If those strides resulted in any permanent or temporary changes, none were announced Monday.

Instead, officials stuck to the existing design and operation of the highway.

State law requires that the speed limit be computed based on the 85th percentile speed … the speed travelled by 85 percent of the cars.

PCH was designed 70 years ago with lane widths and curves to accommodate 55 mile per hour traffic … and study after study proves traffic moves at a design speed … not a speed limit. 

Never mind that the urgently promised safety study necessary to reduce those excessive speeds, or do much of anything else, won’t be complete until 2025.

Seriously, take a few minutes to read the whole thing.

Because the authors clearly and concisely shred all the happy talk and lauding news reports resulting from the announcement of the state’s meager investment in improving safety on the highway, concluding,

…it is .. after all … a state highway. 

One that is not going to see any major changes … anytime soon … other than 4 point 2 million dollars worth of paint and new signs. 

Ouch.

Thanks to Hans Laetz for the heads-up.

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The Los Angeles Times takes a look at the problem of dooring and what to do to prevent it.

The paper views it through the lens of artist Yasmine Nasser Diaz, the widow of Hollywood producer Robert George, who was killed in October when a motorist opened their car door at Fountain and Edgemont in East Hollywood, knocking him into the path of another car.

“Dooring” and “doored,” colloquialisms among bicyclists, refer to a collision caused by a driver or passenger opening a car door into an oncoming cyclist. For some cyclists, such as Diaz, it is among their greatest fears. But collisions such as these, they say, can be prevented with greater awareness and better infrastructure.

Developing bike infrastructure in Los Angeles is complicated by logistics and competing interests. Bicyclists say L.A.’s car-centric culture hinders progress and argue that the city favors the comfort of drivers.

Yeah, you could say that.

The story goes on to cite Joshua Cohen, of BikinginLA sponsor Cohen Law Partners.

In California, motorists are mandated to not open a door “unless it is reasonably safe to do so and can be done without interfering with the movement of such traffic,” according to the state vehicle code

But when car doors do collide with cyclists, the fallout can range from a few bumps and bruises to serious damage. Joshua Cohen, a personal injury attorney, said he’s dealt with cases in which cyclists had severed fingers, as well as back, neck and head injuries.

“The edge of the car door where it strikes the human body — generally, if you think about the physics of that happening — it’s almost like someone striking it with a sword because the leading edge of the car door is basically a thin piece of metal,” Cohen said.

Despite that, the law is rarely prosecuted.

A spokesperson with the LAPD says arrests are unlikely to be made unless police can prove malicious intent.

Otherwise, it’s just another oopsie — even though motorists are always at fault in a dooring, because they have the responsibility to prevent it.

The decade-plus I’ve spent tracking SoCal bike deaths tells us that dooring is rarely fatal. Which is good, because it’s one of the most common forms of bike crashes — despite the LAPD stats, which show only two reported doorings this year.

Presumably, one of those is the one that killed George.

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Don’t let the door hit it on the way out.

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‘Tis the season.

The San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles surprised over 100 students at a Boyle Heights elementary school with new bicycles for the holidays.

An organization founded by a group of Sacramento high school students when they were just in elementary school is asking readers of the local paper for $5,000 in funding, after donating over 500 bicycles to kids in need over the past ten years.

Bicyclists in the Bosnian city of Mostar donned their finest Santa suits and rode through the city handing out candy to kids, to celebrate the holidays.

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Local 

Streetsblog visits the new Boyle Heights’ Myers/Mission Roundabout connected to the 6th Street Viaduct, along with short bikeway segments on Myers Street and Mission Road.

 

State

A new bike law going into effect January 1st somehow slipped under the radar, requiring bike riders to obey bicycle traffic control devices when they differ from other traffic signals.

An op-ed from a representative for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition says despite the usual parking controversies, both bicyclists and small business owners really just want a more vibrant city.

San Francisco advocates warn tragedy is inevitable on one of the city’s Slow Streets, which is now slow in name only.

Vallejo is evicting residents of a homeless encampment just before the holidays, so the city can begin a $10 million project to rebuild the bike path they’ve been living next to.

 

National

Survivors of the Goodyear, Arizona crash that killed two bike riders and injured 19 others are still waiting for justice ten months later, after the county attorney passed the buck case back to the city attorney.

She gets it. A letter writer in St. George, Utah makes a detailed case that better bicycle infrastructure will improve safety for everyone.

The trial for the two Las Vegas teens accused of intentionally running down and killing former Bell CA police chief Andy Probst was pushed back to next fall, while their attorney attacked the entire grand jury system, and blamed mental, physical and emotional problems for their inappropriate courtroom behavior.

Cincinnati’s bikeshare system will be out of commission until at least early spring, as it undergoes “significant staff reductions.”

Megan Lynch forwards news that a bill in the New Jersey legislature would require low-speed ebikes and e-scooters — not the high speed, throttle-controlled ebikes — to be registered with the DMV and carry liability insurance, passing the Budget and Appropriations Committee on a 4-0 vote. Even though ebikes don’t seem to be what’s killing people on the state’s streets.

Sad news from Atlanta, where a leader of a local winter bicycling league was killed by a driver while on a ride with the group.

 

International

Cycling Weekly offers advice on how to save money — and the planet — by buying a secondhand bike instead of a new one, without suffering buyer’s regret.

A London website says don’t ride your bike through the Tooting neighborhood, where workers see bicycle collisions on a near daily basis. Maybe it would help if drivers would do a little less tooting and more driving.

A speeding English driver was sentenced to nearly five years behind bars for killing a 14-year old girl as she rode her bike on the sidewalk.

A new British study confirms what most of us already know, that drivers who also ride bikes, or at least understand where bike riders are supposed to position themselves on the streets, are less likely to blame the person on the bike for a close pass.

Taiwan is introducing 16 new bicycle tour routes connecting 13 national scenic areas, for your next trip to the island. You know, before China tries to take it over.

 

Competitive Cycling

No surprise here, as world champ Mathieu van der Poel returned to ‘cross competition, and immediately climbed to the top of the podium.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the kid in the store bicycle display could use a hand. Or when the local bike path goes to the dogs.

And that feeling when you emulate your hero by crashing and burning, just like the real Evel Knievel.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

CNN looks at Malibu’s killer highway, Illinois makes bikes 2nd class citizens, and LA tops 300 murders and traffic deaths

Just 6 days left in the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Sadly, no one donated yesterday to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

So don’t let that happen again! Take just a moment and give now!

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Days left to launch the California ebike incentive program this fall as promised: 2

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If you haven’t already, sign and share the petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to listen to the dangers we face just walking and biking on the streets of LA, and city’s ongoing failure to build the safer, more livable transportation system they promised.

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We made the national news, for all the wrong reasons.

CNN reported on LA County’s killer highway, the four Pepperdine students killed by a speeding driver earlier this year, and the 58 people killed along PCH in Malibu in just the last 13 years.

“I should have been there and I usually would be there,” (Pepperdine senior Bridget) Thompson said. “I can just picture them in the car on the way there. I know they were listening to music and I know they were singing along.”

The girls parked and were walking along the Pacific Coast Highway when prosecutors say a BMW going 104 miles per hour slammed into several parked cars before hitting and killing Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams – all Pepperdine seniors…

Thompson is now among those demanding safety changes along the iconic Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. She helped dedicate a memorial on the scenic highway, which stretches the California coastline, featuring 58 white tires — one for each of the lives lost on the road in Malibu since 2010.

It’s a heartbreaking story, but a necessary one.

Maybe a little national humiliation is what we need to finally get some long-needed changes made.

Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.

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The Illinois Supreme Court reaffirmed a horrific ruling that officially makes bike riders 2nd class citizens on the streets.

The court ruled that cities aren’t responsible for injuries to bike riders from poorly maintained roads that don’t have bicycle infrastructure, reasoning that bicycles are allowed to use such roadways, but aren’t the intended users.

Apparently, drivers are.

Not only does the ruling absolve cities of responsibility to maintain safe streets, it also provides a disincentive to build the infrastructure that would make them liable.

And makes it clear that we’re nothing more than guests anywhere else.

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More information on the Colorado hit-and-run crash we mentioned yesterday.

The driver of one Ford Mustang was passing another on a sweeping mountain curve, and slammed headfirst into three bicyclists traveling in the opposite direction.

The driver fled the scene, then he and his passenger abandoned the car a short distance later with the airbags deployed. The driver of the other car attempted to give chase after checking on the victims, but crashed into a guardrail.

It seems almost miraculous that only one of the victims was seriously injured. A second rider suffered major road rash after flying over the car, while the third rode into a ditch to avoid the crash.

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

Portland finished ripping out a bike lane that had allegedly been installed by mistake, after the initial work to remove it had been halted by protestors blocking the trucks.

They get it. Velo says ebike licenses won’t make the streets any safer, and rider regulation won’t stop the 7,500 pedestrians killed by cars each year.

………

………

Local 

Yay, us. Los Angeles has topped both 300 murders and 300 deaths from traffic violence for the second year in a row.

No word yet on whether West Hollywood adopted its Vision Zero plan last night.

Santa Monica is considering a ballot measure for next November to tax parking garages to pay for transportation projects, including Vision Zero.

Redondo Beach has completed work on its portion of the new Diamond Street Bike and Pedestrian Path, after Torrance bailed on building its part of the pathway connecting the two cities.

 

State

Sad news from San Jose, where the Bay Area’s Mr. Roadshow died Sunday after a long battle with a degenerative muscle and nerve disease; prior to the paper’s draconian paywall, I often linked to his stories when he got it right, or to criticize when he missed the mark. Gary Richards was 72.

A Streetsblog op-ed says the contentious centerline protected bike lane on San Francisco’s Valencia Street could lead to a more pedestrianized, safer street that allows commerce to flourish — if cooler heads prevail, which seems unlikely.

 

National

Electrek lists their most popular ebike news stories of 2023.

Police in Goodyear, Arizona recommended that the driver who plowed into a group bike ride, injuring 19 people and killing two, face just eight misdemeanor charges after the local DA had rejected the case.

A Michigan man faces a murder charge for fatally stabbing another man in a fight that began over a bicycle. We’ve said it before — no bike is worth a human life. Just walk away. 

He’s a Harvard administrator and amateur bike mechanic.

A man in the Bronx is still waiting for the ebike he ordered from Amazon, which was never delivered over a month later.

A kindhearted former Trek staffer is collecting and refurbishing bicycles to donate to people in Ghana and New Jersey, as well as homeless people in California.

An Alabama district court judge gave her former bailiff, now a college president, the new ebike she won in a raffle, to replace the bike that was stolen on his first day working for her.

 

International

‘Tis the season. Momentum offers a “Bikemas” guide to the best-selling bicycling gifts this holiday season.

A Canadian bike lawyer provides a guide to avoid getting doored, and what to do if you do.

Britain’s Bike Project is changing lives by donating refurbished bicycles to refugees.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is planning to charge owners of massive SUVs triple the normal parking fee in the central city, and double in other parts of the city in an effort to tax them off the streets.

Sad news from Swaziland, where award-winning travel photographer Steve Walton died after breaking his back in a fall off a narrow footbridge while riding his bike during an October safari; he was 69.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — a “magical ride” island hopping over bridges in the Indonesian city of Batam.

 

Competitive Cycling

Top triathletes are renting bikes to compete in the world championships, after the financial failure of a shipping company left many riders rides in limbo.

Orange Factory Racing is pulling out of mountain biking after 30 years.

Pez Cycling News considers what the shutdown of GCN+ and the shift of bike racing coverage to Max — formerly HBO — will mean for US cycling fans.

 

Finally…

When you’re riding your bike despite several outstanding warrants, put a damn light on it, already. Your next tandem ebike could have three wheels — all in a straight line.

And your next bike trailer could be amphibious.

Even if your bike isn’t.

………

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

22 people killed on bikes in LA this year, city on record pace for traffic deaths; no one feels safe on Caltrans highways

Color me livid.

For some time, I’ve been concerned that we’re not learning about people killed riding their bikes in the City of Los Angeles.

Now know they’ve been keeping the truth from us.

That worry stemmed from this year’s surprisingly low number of bicycling deaths that have been reported in the media, as well as the LAPD’s belated announcements of fatal hit-and-runs that come weeks, if not months, after the fact.

Never mind that they’re asking for our help long after the trail has gone cold, and any potential witnesses have likely forgotten key details.

So much for the city’s highly touted hit-and-run alert system.

Yesterday, Crosstown confirmed that they just aren’t telling us what we need to know to stay safe, and identify the problems on our streets — let alone fix them.

Following the death of Los Angeles resident Samuel Tessier in an apparent fall at the entrance to Universal Studios last week, I had counted nine people who had been publicly confirmed to have been killed while riding their bikes on the mean streets of the City of Angels.

But according to LAPD figures reported by Crosstown, the actual number is more than twice that high. In fact, of the more than 260 traffic deaths in the city through October 28th, 19 were people on two wheels.

It’s actually worse than that, however, because three more people have been killed riding bikes in Los Angeles since then, including Mr. Tessier, for a current total of 22.

Yes, 22.

Although that figure pales compared to the 138 pedestrians slaughtered on our streets, as the city is on track for more than 300 traffic deaths for the second year in a row.

And once again likely to top the highest number of traffic fatalities in more than a decade, topping last year’s total of 314 — or nearly one person killed on our streets every day of the year.

So much for Vision Zero.

We were promised that the city would pull out all the stops and do whatever was necessary to eliminate traffic deaths by — wait for it — 2025.

Which means they have a hell of lot of work to do to if they’re going to meet that goal in the next 13 and a half months.

Especially since they can’t even be bothered to tell us about the over half the bike-riding victims of traffic violence in the city.

Let alone the other 243 people killed in traffic collisions this year.

And if that doesn’t piss you off, I don’t know what will.

Photo by Wendy Corniquet from Pixabay.

……..

Then again, it’s not just Los Angeles.

According to a new survey conducted by Calbike, a whopping 83% of respondents would feel uncomfortable walking or biking on California highways controlled by Caltrans.

And 99% would be uncomfortable walking or biking those highways with a child.

But let’s just round up, and say all of us.

Then again, there’s pretty damn good reason for that.

……..

Evidently, LA officials are keeping us in the dark literally, as well as figuratively.

https://twitter.com/im_walkin_here/status/1724333507554718133

……..

Bike-riding state senator and congressional candidate Anthony Portantino landed a key endorsement in his campaign to replace outgoing Congressmember Adam Schiff, in what appears to be shaping up as a battle with equally bike-friendly Assembly Transportation Committee head Laura Friedman.

………

‘Tis the season.

The bicycling holiday gift guides are coming in fast and furious now, with new editions from Bike World News, Popular Science and Engadget.

Meanwhile, Bicycling gets into the spirit by recommending six bicycling-related charities that could use your holiday donations. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Just remember to save a few bucks for the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive, which officially kicks off after Thanksgiving.

………

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

Massachusetts Streetsblog reports hating on bike lanes was not a winning strategy for the state’s politicians in the recent election.

A London man got knocked off his bike by a hit-and-run mo-ped rider while biking with his cat, and all the cops care about is his lack of a helmet. And presumably the cat’s, too.

………

Local 

Pasadena just got a federal grant for just over three-quarters of a million dollars to boost active transportation in the Rose City.

Long Beach is starting design work on an 8.3-mile, north-south curb-protected Backbone Bikeway on Orange Ave to compliment several east-west bikeways currently under development, as well as a 5-mile bikeway on Atlantic Ave currently in its earliest phase.

 

State

Solano Beach is considering adding signs along the city’s Coastal Rail Trail to encourage courtesy and slower speeds when approaching pedestrians, whether someone is riding an ebike or a regular bicycle.

Ebike riders are calling on San Diego to lift the city’s four-year old ban on riding on its boardwalks.

Seriously? A Blythe man walked out of court already on parole after pleading guilty to shooting a man riding a bicycle after the two men had quarreled over a dice game; 27-year old Deveon Keyshawn Smith was sentenced to four years time served for the crime, after being held behind bars since the 2018 shooting.

Bay Area bike riders turned out in force to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the bike lane on the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge, with an estimated 1,000 bicyclists riding to demand its retention in the face of a relentless campaign for its removal.

 

National

CNN tests 17 ebikes and one conversion kit and comes up with some surprising recommendations, as well as the usual suspects.

Singletracks talks with an attorney to understand why frame warranties for mountain bike frames are written to prevent replacement or repairs.

Pertinent advice from Road Bike Rider on how to keep your bicycling duds from stinking up the room.

That’s more like it. Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss offers five bike safety tips that are more important than wearing a helmet. Which is not to say that you shouldn’t wear one, just that it should always be seen as the last line of defense when all else fails, not the first. 

Bike Magazine considers the drive for ebike incentives across the US. Which serves as yet another reminder that California’s seemingly moribund ebike voucher program still hasn’t launched, over two years after it was approved and funded by the state legislature. 

Oregon Rep. Earl Blumaneuer continues his exit interview tour, as the co-founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus talks with Streetsblog about the state of bicycling, traffic safety and bi-partisanship in the US.

It takes major huevos — or maybe a distinct lack of common sense — to steal ten police bikes from a San Antonio police storage room.

Police in Missouri discovered a body in a local park after someone found an abandoned bike along a bike path, several months after a local person went missing.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 83-year old Ohio woman wakes up with a smile every morning by looking forward to riding her bike each day, after overcoming polio as a child.

Horrible news from Alabama, where a 63-year old woman was apparently killed by dogs while riding her bike, after she was found unresponsive on the side of the road. A tragic reminder that unleashed dogs can be more than just an annoyance. 

 

International

GCN explains how to fit clip-on mud guards to almost any bike. Which could come in handy with the atmospheric river projected to hit California later this week. 

Nice guy. A Welsh man switched seats with his wife and let her take the blame after blowing through a red light and slamming into a bike-riding teenager, leaving the boy with life-changing injuries.

A British bike rider was suitably horrified as he filmed a swarm of rats along a local bike path.

The bereaved romantic partner of rising Irish cyclist Gabriele Glodenyte warns that the county’s roads are like a war zone, after the 24-year old rider was killed by a driver while the pair were on a training ride in May.

An Irish mother of two faces charges for an alleged drunken and stoned hit-and-run, accused of leaving an off-duty police inspector for dead in a ditch after slamming into his bicycle; she refused a friend’s offer of a ride, despite smoking a joint and downing at least ten drinks.

Two Cypriot bicyclists were hospitalized after they were both run down by a hit-and-run driver.

Eight bicyclist crisscrossed Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, during the night on bicycles outfitted to monitor air quality and pollution from Diwali fireworks.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan recalls riding his bike 155 miles from Delhi to Chandigarh after graduating high school, because he wasn’t having any luck getting into colleges in his hometown.

Seoul, Korea is proposing a 12 mph speed limit for bicyclists riding in bike lanes along the Han River to rein in speeding riders.

Borrow a bicycle for a free two-hour ride on your next layover at the Singapore airport.

A Melbourne, Australia man riding his bike with an Israeli flag was attacked by a woman and knocked off his bike, in an assault fueled by escalating Israel-Palestine tensions.

 

Competitive Cycling

Grand Tour veteran Geraint Thomas is apparently spending the off-season drowning in booze, admitting to being drunk 12 nights out of the previous two weeks.

The next time someone suggests cyclists aren’t tough, remind them of the time Dutch ‘cross rider Lars Van der Haar causally popped his own dislocated shoulder back in using his own bike. Read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you.

https://twitter.com/kwoodzie14/status/1723352124828876978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1723352124828876978%7Ctwgr%5E0ab0d0cb5a4b64820e9398ac0345d32bf7b9d086%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aol.com%2Flifestyle%2Fwatch-moment-lars-van-der-160100396.html

 

Finally…

Donate a bike, get a free burger and fries. You know you’re in a small town when failing to signal your lane change tops the local news.

And why your new carbon fiber, high-performance bicycle could be made by a Red Sox fan.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Why killer drivers seldom get charged, and SaMo considers speeding needed traffic safety improvements tomorrow

My apologies for another unexcused absence on Friday. 

One of the many insidious effects of diabetes is a dramatic decline in stamina; busing to a couple of medical appointments was enough to knock me out all night, and most of the next morning. 

On the plus side, at least I’m starting the week well rested. 

………

Ryan Fonseca of the Los Angeles Times takes a look at why killer drivers are so rarely charged with murder in California.

Which is something we’ve probably all asked at one time or another.

Although to be fair, it’s not just here. From what I’ve seen, most drivers walk with just a slap on the wrist, no matter where it happens.

If they get charged at all.

Here’s how he explains it.

First off, killing someone with a vehicle is simply viewed differently under the law. That difference is codified in California’s criminal law, where manslaughter — “the unlawful killing of a human being without malice” — is divided into three kinds: Voluntary, involuntary and vehicular.

The key difference between murder and manslaughter is intention. There’s also the idea of implied malice, or what’s sometimes called a depraved heart — when someone should have reasonably known that an act was potentially deadly, but they did it anyway.

Like driving 104 mph in a 45 mile zone, for instance. Or weaving in and out of traffic at speeds up to 100 mph with a suspended license while stoned .

Or dragging someone under your car for nearly a mile while trying to flee the scene; police are still looking for the heartless coward in that one.

Let alone the rash of recent cases where crashes appeared to be intentional.

But perhaps the chief limiting factor, according to former prosecutors, is what a jury made up of 12 people who drive is willing to convict on, combined with prosecutors well-founded fear of losing.

Which is why you see so many killer drivers plead out for a misdemeanor instead of a felony. Or a lousy traffic ticket, for that matter.

And that means drivers get away with things they wouldn’t if they killed someone using any other means.

Damian Kevitt, executive director of the advocacy nonprofit Streets Are For Everyone, often meets with families who have lost a loved one to traffic violence. He told me the focus on a driver’s intent in a fatal crash creates a level of protection that doesn’t exist outside their cars.

“Instead of assuming that you have a responsibility and you have an obligation to drive safely, it’s more… ‘we’re going to assume that you have the best of intentions,’” he said. “That’s not right — not when you’re [operating] a two-ton vehicle that has just as much ability to kill someone as a gun.”

It’s worth reading the whole thing.

Because public pressure, or the lack thereof, can be the deciding factor on how serious the charges are that a driver could face.

And how much time they might end up serving.

……..

Santa Monica will consider a motion to speed up traffic safety improvements at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

According to an email from Streets For All,

This item will direct the city manager to expedite requests for stop signs, update the city’s guidelines to upgrade unsignalized intersections, update the process through which residents can report dangerous intersections, improve communication between SMPD and the Department of Transportation, update the Take The Friendly Road campaign, develop a proposal to allocate funding towards infrastructure in daylighting zones to address dangerous illegal parking, and more.

It can’t come fast enough.

Because a man riding a bicycle was lucky to escape with minor injuries when he was struck by a driver, at the exact intersection where Tania Mooser was killed in a collision while riding her bike just two weeks earlier.

And where local residents have spent years demanding safety improvements, with no one at SaMo City Hall seeming to give a damn.

……..

Don’t forget to voice your opinion on the LA County bike plan.

………

Nice to see a good turnout for the ghost bike ceremony honoring fallen Hollywood producer Bob George.

Maybe someday, things like this won’t be necessary anymore.

………

Because of course he was one of us.

………

GCN considers the true cost of bicycling, including buying all the gear.

Never mind that you can get a used bike for a couple hundred bucks, and just start riding.

………

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

No bias here. Writing for the Orange County Register, the western director of a conservative think tank says sorry, but bicycling isn’t going to change the world, and only bicyclists demand “the world be rebuilt to cater to (their) somewhat-dangerous hobby.” He also compares bike lanes to social engineering, and insists, without evidence, that closing streets to cars destroys cities. Just wait until someone tells him about the social engineering that forces everyone into cars.

No bias here, either. A Marin paper says everyone has to accept that few people want to ride their bikes on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge compared to the 80,000 daily drivers. But fails to mention that drivers have connecting roadways leading to and from the bridge, while bike riders are still waiting for safe connections to get on and off. The paper’s editorial cartoonist weighs in, as well.

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

A Florida man is back behind bars for running down a pedestrian on his ebike while stinking of booze, after previously serving ten years for a DUI manslaughter.

A Scottish bike rider confesses to being one of those demon cyclists who jump red lights and ride on the sidewalk, sometimes putting his own life over the “the irritation of motorists and occasionally pedestrians.”

………

Local 

Streetsblog reports the LA City Council has taken the first steps to implement an automated speed cam program, and officially committed to using “crash,” “collision” or “incident,” rather than “accident” to describe two drivers trying to defy the laws of physics by occupying the same space at the same time. Although I’m more impressed that the LA Times is now using the term “traffic violence.”

 

State

Readers of the San Diego Reader compiled a list of the city’s most dangerous spots for bike riders, including Friars Road, Nimitz Blvd and University Ave. Which shows some things haven’t changed since I lived down there over 30 year ago. 

A bike-riding Santa Barbara boy suffered minor injuries when he was struck by a driver, although he apparently broke his guitar — unless the website meant a broken fender, not Fender. The story also suggests the driver may have been blinded by the sunset, which seems somewhat unlikely at three in the afternoon. 

A Santa Cruz website considers the ripple effects of one free bicycle given to a kid nearly two decades ago.

Who was that masked man? An unidentified San Francisco bike rider saved the day when burglars tried to break into a van belonging to Minneapolis-based indie band Yam Haus, apparently smacking one of the thieves to disrupt the break-in before riding off into the sunset.

Sad news from Oakland, where someone riding a bicycle was killed in a collision Friday night; the driver either did or didn’t remain at the scene.

A couple of men were busted after a man tracked his stolen bike to their car, then they drove into him when he tried to get it back; police tracked the suspects to their home, and arrested them on a raft of theft and drug charges.

Lake Tahoe’s Incline Village is banning scofflaw ebike riders from city sidewalks, adding ebikes to a current prohibition on sidewalk riding, although a spokesperson for the sheriff swears it’s only enforced when people ride recklessly.

 

National

Electrek explains why drivers should love seeing more people on ebikes — or any other bicycles, for that matter — from more bikes means less traffic and more parking, to better roads and more money in your pocket. Maybe someone should tell that guy from the Orange County Register.

Clean Technica looks at the “slow, painful process” of eliminating the sale of dangerous ebike batteries.

Bicycling reports the annual Cranksgiving food-drive ride is back after a three-year Covid hiatus, with over 100 rides currently scheduled in 35 states, although the nearest one to Los Angeles/Orange County appears to be in Redlands. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you; however, the second link works, regardless.

An Oregon state legislator responded to the death of a 16-year old boy riding an ebike by introducing legislation to ban throttle-controlled ebikes for anyone under 16, limiting younger riders to ped-assist ebikes.

NPR conducts an exit interview with Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who has been bicycling’s biggest champion in Congress in recent years.

A Washington bike rider urges drivers to please respect the city’s new purple bike lanes. Apparently painted in an effort to make Barney feel at home.

Apparently, killing a 13-year old Denver-area boy as he rode his bike to school last month is just a minor traffic violation, after the driver who killed him got a lousy ticket for careless driving resulting in death.

Former President George W. Bush hosted his annual Warrior Ride for America’s veterans at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, expressing his gratitude and support for vets.

New York’s Transportation Commissioner considers how to safely integrate ebikes into the city’s traffic system.

Life is cheap in Pennsylvania, where intentionally trying to back over a bike rider while threatening to “smoke” the victim will get you two months of home vacation, followed by just two lousy days behind bars each week for 15 whole weeks.

Birds are bad enough. A South Carolina bike rider was startled when a deer literally jumped over him as he took part in a club ride.

 

International

Momentum readers nominate the world’s worst bike lanes.

Bike Radar suggests five areas of training that will make you a better roadie. None of which are better roadway courtesy or yielding to pedestrians, however.

Police in Ontario — no, the one in Canada — are searching a cornfield for a missing 34-year old man after his ebike was found in the middle of the field with a flat tire, and the wires leading to the battery dangling down.

This is who we share the road with. A London bike rider’s helmet cam captured video of a security van driver watching porn on his phone and masturbating while he was driving. Wanker.

That’s more like it. A British truck driver got eight-and-a-half years behind bars for killing a 53-year old woman riding a bike, and seriously injuring her 19-year old son, while using a social media app on his phone.

Finland addressed a smattering of people illegally crossing from Russia on bicycles by banning anyone from riding a bike across the border, months after a similar ban on people arriving in motor vehicles.

Over 35,000 people turned out for the fourth annual Dubai Ride, the region’s largest bike ride.

Don’t obscure your license plate with your trunk-mounted bike rack in Abu Dhabi.

 

Competitive Cycling

There may not be a 38th edition of Japan’s Tour de Hokkaido next year, after a cyclist was killed in a head-on collision that resulted in the immediate cancellation of this year’s event.

Up to 15 riders were injured in a mass pile-up in the final stage of Australia’s Tour of Tasmania.

One of the four climate activists on trial for disrupting the road Worlds by gluing their hands to the roadway claims the cycling community is complicit in the climate crisis through ignorance of the “oil and gas companies sponsoring their races.” Trust me, they know.

 

Finally…

Your next titanium road bike could be worth its weight in gold — or painted with it, anyway. Who needs 29 inch wheels when you can ride 36ers?

And Red Bull says it gives you wings, but maybe they should hand you floaties, instead.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Good but not great year for CA street safety bills, and 17-year old Las Vegas killer driver could be tried as adult

It could be a good year for California traffic safety, if the governor’s veto pen cooperates.

Streetsblog reports Governor Gavin Newsom has until October 14th to sign legislation “championed by safety and sustainable transportation advocates (that) actually made it all the through the sausage making.”

Among the bills that passed are measures to legalize a speed cam pilot program, provide transparency on highway building and emissions, require daylighting at intersections, and prohibit criminal charges for transit fare evasion.

Bicycling bills that made it to Newsom’s desk would create a Caltrans bike czar, legalize sidewalk riding throughout the state, allow vehicle-mounted cameras to enforce bike lane parking restrictions, and require landlords to let tenants store and charge ebikes and e-scooters inside.

Based on Newsom’s previous actions, I’d expect the sidewalk bill to face the greatest veto risk, followed the ebike charging bill, due to the risk of fires.

Other measures would unbundle parking costs from rent, allow businesses to share excess parking, require a human driver in autonomous trucks, and study the costs and benefits of imposing a weight-based vehicle fee.

Another measure would remove restrictions on lowriders and legalize cruising throughout the state — lifting lowrider culture over traffic safety and the climate emergency.

Bills that didn’t make it include the ban on pretextual traffic stops, free transit passes for youths, and requiring the state to take climate change into account on highway projects and monitor air pollutants.

That’s in addition to the latest attempt at passing a Stop As Yield bill, aka Idaho Stop, which was pulled by Assemblymember Tasha Boener, apparently over fears Newsom wouldn’t sign it. Which seemed pretty clear to begin with, since he’s vetoed two previous attempts.

Meanwhile, Calbike considers the risk that speed poses to all road users, but particularly bike riders and pedestrians, as well as making the case for why everyone should support ebikes, even if you don’t ride one.

Image from Schoolhouse Rock – I’m Just a Bill.

………

No surprise here, as Nevada’s Clark County DA announced plans to try a killer teenaged driver as an adult.

The 17-year old driver was recorded on a now-viral video deliberately aiming his car at retired Bell police chief Andreas Probst as he rode his bike in a Las Vegas bike lane last month.

It’s also no surprise that the car was stolen, one of several auto thefts the teen is accused of taking part in that day. Or that the driver had used it to sideswipe another car moments earlier, apparently just for the hell of it.

Investigators are also trying to identify the passenger who filmed the fatal crash, who could faces charges, as well.

………

They get it.

The Boston Globe writes that it will take more than just infrastructure to get people onto bikes, and meet the city’s goal of a 8% bike commuting rate by 2030, which is four times the current rate.

Reaching that goal is vital to the city’s health. The increased use of bikes usually means the decreased use of cars, which will shrink the city’s carbon footprint and its need for costly parking spaces. At a time when the T is slow or undependable, cycling can not only fill gaps in the transit system but can also be the most efficient mode of travel.

Moreover, bicycles add to the vibrancy of street life, a potential boon to neighborhood stores, restaurants, and cafes. And let’s face it, we could all use a bit more exercise.

Yes, it will require a network of safe, connected bike lanes, the paper argues.

But it will also take adult bike classes, and bicycle training in elementary schools. Along with state and local ebike subsidies, and tax deductions to help defray the cost of bike commutes or pay for Uber rides in bad weather.

As well as growing Boston’s docked bikeshare system.

All of which applies equally well right here in Los Angeles, or pretty much anywhere else in the US.

And while we’re on the subject, Momentum asks if it’s time for governments to start paying people to bike to work.

Short answer, yes. Longer answer, oh hell yes.

………

Longtime Los Angeles bike advocate and former LACBC board member Kent Strumpell will interview Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, founder of the Streets For All PAC, in a webinar hosted by Climate Action Santa Monica this Thursday.

………

That feeling when a 16-year old trail rider could probably drop you like freshman English.

Or maybe that’s just me.

………

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

No bias here. San Diego’s KPBS is once again raising the panic over ebike and e-scooter injuries, as ER doctors cite a painfully small study showing a jump in injuries coinciding with the rise in e-scooter use. Although as any middle school science student could tell you, correlation does not equal causation. And an increase in injuries is to be expected with any increase in usage; the question is whether that rise exceeds what would be expected with greater usage.

Once again, someone has boobytrapped a bike trail in the UK, stringing a nest of orange twine across the trail to ensnare any mountain bikers who failed to spot it; fortunately, a man saw the trap before he hit it at nearly 20 mph, and dismantled it with a small knife from his bike kit.

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

After a pair of bike-riding teenaged theft suspects attempted to escape down a Missouri bike path, a local cop following on foot borrowed a bike from a woman taking part in a corporate relay race, and chased down one of the suspects; the woman’s team was allowed to finish the race despite being shorthanded.

Friends and family members are looking for answers after the beloved assistant director of the New York Chinatown Head Start program died days after she was struck by a hit-and-run ebike rider while walking to work.

………

Local 

Streetsblog offers photos and an open thread about Sunday’s NoHo CicLAmini.

 

State

San Marcos will close part of Via Vera Cruz Road for a months-long construction and resurfacing project, including adding bike lanes to the street.

A San Diego op-ed examines how speed cams could help reduce the hundreds of lives lost to traffic violence in the city each year. Yet the just-passed speed cam pilot program inexplicably excludes California’s second-largest city.

The Manual recommends mountain biking into Death Valley to watch next month’s solar eclipse.

Bakersfield bike riders now have a new bicycle repair station near Beach Park along the popular Kern River Parkway.

The San Francisco Standard examines what the hell is taking so long with the scaled-back Better Market Street Project, which no longer includes plans for a sidewalk-level fully separated bike lane.

 

National

How to charge your ebike using an electric car charging station.

Electrek says budget ebikes are driving retail sales, which is why leading bikemakers like Trek and Cannondale are introducing low-priced ebikes that undercut their own high-end models.

Bicycling recommends the best bike deals in advance of next month’s two-day Amazon Prime Big Deal Days. This one doesn’t appear to be paywalled, but you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you, since it doesn’t seem to be available elsewhere. 

Portland’s transportation director has ordered staffers to rip out a 16-block, parking protected bike lane downtown, for no apparent reason, just one year after completing the final segment.

A Maryland man has filed suit against Seattle’s Rad Power Bikes after the front wheel of his RadRunner bike came off as he was riding.

Seattle’s new waterfront bike path is coming into focus as construction nears completion, although, as usual, last-minute changes undercut previous promises.

Following the time-tested model of NIMBYs everywhere, residents of a Denver neighborhood are protesting a new bike lane “protected” by flimsy plastic car-tickler bendie posts, blaming them and a new roundabout for a series of minor crashes.

Bikepackers and hikers are bringing life back to an old Wyoming gold mining town along the Continental Divide Trail, just a small part of the estimated $454 billion outdoor recreation adds to the nation’s gross domestic product.

Life is cheap in Illinois, where a 76-year old driver walked without a single day behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 20-year old bike-riding man, after the judge suspended his entire five-year sentence for negligent homicide. But at least he’ll be 101 before he’s allowed to drive again.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever shot an 11-year old Saginaw, Michigan boy as he was riding his bicycle; fortunately, his wounds weren’t life-threatening.

A Brooklyn writer argues that foldies aren’t just for city living, and should be part of your outdoor adventures, as well.

A pair of men were injured, one critically, when they were struck by a driver while taking part in a Maryland gran fondo, apparently because they were unable to stop on the wet roadway.

 

International

Dueling groups of demonstrators turned out Monday over plans to widen and protect a Montreal bike lane; as usual, the issue was the planed removal of 250 parking spaces to make room for it.

A bike-riding Dublin, Ireland woman was seriously injured in a collision with another bicyclist Monday morning.

A Ukrainian woman rode her bike more than 125 miles around London to draw an outline of the UK, to thank the country for supporting Ukraine.

A UK letter writer supports a call to reduce traffic congestion by eliminating parking, saying the roads are too dangerous for “all but the most experienced and intrepid” bike riders.

A Bangladeshi financial site writes that the local bicycle industry is facing the worst period in memory, apparently falling victim to the worldwide financial upheaval cause by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

Competitive Cycling

The fan-based @GCSeppKuss account on X/Twitter started out as a joke, then gained followers as Kuss took the lead in the Vuelta — including Kuss himself.

The last American to win a grand tour before Kuss says his victory could provide a timely boost for a flagging road cycle racing scene in the US.

Velo says the attitude throughout the peloton is that no one deserves a grand tour win more than Sepp Kuss.

The once high-flying Astana-Qazaqstan team brought home less than $5,000 in prize money for three weeks work in the Vuelta.

This about sums up this year’s racing season. Even if the winners of the first two tried to keep the last one from winning.

 

Finally…

One more way bikes are better than cars for the climate — we don’t need windshield washer fluid.

And you should always wear the proper attire for bike racing, even if it’s a suit jacket and knickers.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

SaMo councilor withdraws anti-bike lane motion, calling out knee-jerk anti-bike bias, and Subaru bats just 300 at missing bikes

It looks like the Santa Monica bike community won this one.

Streetsblog is reporting that SaMo City Councilmember Phil Brock pulled his motion calling for a report offering more options for the 17th Street protected bike lane and pedestrian improvement project, which isn’t even completely finished yet.

The site says he wanted to prevent the sort of fiasco we recently saw in Culver City, where a newly conservative council voted to remove the highly successful Move Culver City project from the downtown area.

Santa Monica councilmembers report being flooded with dueling email campaigns, with one calling for preserving the bikeway, while another from residents of the Mid-City neighborhood called for its removal.

But for a change, more emails came from predominantly younger bicycle and pedestrian safety advocates, than from the more conservative — and presumably older — neighborhood activists.

So pat yourself on the back.

Even though the councilmember now says he never really wanted to radically alter or remove aspects of the project.

Good to know.

………

Boy, does she get it.

In an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle, a carfree former emergency room nurse, semiretired professor and septuagenarian bicyclist writes about the knee-jerk hatred of people on bicycles, both online and in what passes for the real world these days.

The next time you are tempted to pile on to such a discussion about bicyclists, ask yourself if you are doing so because you consciously or unconsciously resent them — for taking up space on the roads, for slowing you down in your car, for seemingly being so free while you are stuck in car traffic. And if so, stop and ask yourself if you can re-envision them in a non-stereotyped way: as your own kids, grandmothers, parents or other people who are placed at risk by negative comments. Your words have the power to reinforce hurtful stereotypes or to reshape perceptions.

Ultimately, hate of bicyclists comes from the same place as racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia: a desire to cling to the status quo power arrangements that favor some over others. As the bicycle becomes re-popularized as a legitimate form of transportation, there are inevitably more conflicts with those who continually and mindlessly assert that “streets are for cars.” But just as gay people are no longer willing to stay in the closet, nor women in the kitchen, bicyclists are no longer willing to settle for crumbs in terms of use of our public roadways.

It’s more than worth reading the whole thing.

Although you’ll have to find a way past the paper’s draconian paywall to do it.

………

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says Subaru’s EyeSight crash avoidance system shows promise, reducing crashes with drivers traveling parallel to bicycles by 30 percent.

However, it only showed a modest benefit in other types of crashes, which earlier versions — like the ones tested — weren’t designed to detect.

Although that means it failed in 70% of crashes, which may be a good record in baseball, but not so much in real life when it’s your ass that’s on the line.

………

A co-working site cites Boston and Newark, New Jersey as the best cities in the US to live without a car, followed by New York, DC and San Francisco.

That’s followed by 15 other cities, none of which is Los Angeles, unsurprisingly.

………

Apparently, Los Angeles County, which is responsible for maintaining the beachfront Marvin Braude Bike Trail, has once again allowed it to become overrun with sand.

And is apparently allowing it to stay that way, rather than promptly clearing it.

………

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

No bias here. A Wyoming police chief blames bike riders for most crashes with motor vehicles, claiming bicyclists have a misconception that they aren’t expected to obey the same traffic laws as motorists — even though the department doesn’t track bicycle crashes, so he’s really just guessing who’s actually at fault.

No bias here, either. English residents complain that “unsightly” bike hangers don’t get used, then complain when they do.

In an apparent attempt to thin the herd, Edinburgh officials say two-way street markings on a Low Traffic Neighborhood, the UK’s equivalent of our Slow Streets, will remain in place, even though they direct bike riders directly into oncoming motor vehicle traffic on the one-way street.

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

Adding insult to literal injury, an Edinburgh bike rider was convicted of dangerous bicycling after he ran a red light and was struck by a motorist.

………

Local 

The popular Ballona Creek bike path will be closed for maintenance through 3 pm today, from Duquesne Ave to Jackson Ave. Or vice versa, depending on which way you’re traveling.

 

State

San Francisco Streetsblog says the city’s Hyde Street bike lane project is garbage, suggesting the “info-free outreach and terrible designs” demonstrate how little the city’s transit agency really cares about bicycle safety.

A Chico mom worries about whether she should send her kids to school on their bikes using dangerous major streets, or ride bike paths through homeless camps where she would feel unsafe.

 

National

GearJunkie has tips on how to buy a used ebike, whether online or in person.

A German brand has introduced a sturdy and capacious, but relatively pricey, e-cargo bike, with prices rising to seven grand for a belt-drive version; meanwhile, another German bikemaker is offering a more compact e-cargo bike for over two grand less.

PinkBike editors demonstrate the bike park protective gear they actually wear.

Speaking of protective gear, Bell Sports is recalling their “Giro” Merit helmets because they don’t comply with CPSC safety standards, and could pose a risk of head injury. Which kind of defeats the purpose of a bike helmet in the first place. 

A flight website offers tips on how to fly with your bicycle, complete with a table of major airlines’ policies. Which is not the same as flying on your bicycle, which usually happens if you hit a bump or something bumps into you. 

A “semi-new” Oregon explorer offers advice on overnight bike touring and bikepacking.

That crowdfunding campaign we mentioned last week to buy a new ebike for a popular carfree, 78-year old Longmont, Colorado man after his new one was stolen has topped the $3,500 goal, which means he’ll soon be riding again.

Missoula, Montana residents are resorting to a letter-writing campaign just to get the state transportation department to fund a study of a dangerous street, in hopes it will lead to safety improvements.

Good news from Chicago, where Streetsblog editor John Greenfield is on the mend, two months after he was placed in a medically induced coma with major head trauma, as well as several broken ribs and a broken clavicle, after he was struck by a plastic pipe sticking out from a passing truck while riding his bike on the sidewalk.

A Minnesota writer wonders whether we’ll ever have a European-style bike culture in the US, in which bikes are integrated into residents lives, rather than being considered exercise or an activity.

Vermont has opened its first fully adaptive mountain bike trails offering open accessibility to all trail users, able-bodied or otherwise. Read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

 

International

Momentum Magazine considers bike buses, calling them a global trend in active school transportation.

That’s more like it. Vancouver will offer a secure bike valet service for the downtown area. That contrasts with Downtown Los Angeles, where police warn your bike may not be there when you get back.

This is who we share the road with. After a 16-year old British bike rider was run down by a female hit-and-run driver while riding in a bike lane, the boy’s mother accused her of watching Netflix as she was driving; fortunately, the victim wasn’t badly injured.

This is who we share the road with, too. Video from the UK shows impatient drivers zooming down the wrong side of the road, on a street where three bicyclists have been killed in recent years. Then again, maybe they were just visiting Americans unable to comprehend the country’s left-side driving rules.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website considers the role of big data in shaping bicycle friendly cities.

 

Competitive Cycling

Women’s WorldTour cyclists condemn organizers of the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées, which was cancelled when riders protested dangerous conditions on the final stage, after they referred to pro riders as “girls” and “spoiled children” for cancelling the tour.

 

Finally…

If you’re making off with a stolen bike, maybe try stopping for the stop signs. And thank a 17th century mathematician and scientist for your air pressure gauge.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

LA among deadliest cities for bike riders — or not, and $25,000 reward for hit-and-run motorcyclist who cost boy his leg

Nothing like passing out from high blood sugar, then picking up your laptop and starting work at 1 am. 

So if I screw up or miss anything, my apologies in advance. 

Then again, that’s no different from most nights these days.

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

………

Los Angeles is one of the nation’s deadliest large city for people on bicycles.

Or maybe not even in the top 15, depending on how you measure it

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, reports LA saw 12 people killed while riding bicycles in 2020, the latest year for which detailed traffic safety stats are available.

That comes in behind only New York’s 17. And tops Houston, Texas and Jacksonville, Florida with ten each, followed by Chicago and Detroit with eight.

But on a per capita basis, we’re not even close.

Tucson, Arizona led the nation with 1.26 deaths per 100,000 residents, followed closely by Detroit with 1.2 per 100,000 people.

Los Angeles was all the way down at number 16, with a relatively paltry 0.30 per 100,000 residents. Or we could be 20th, since we were tied with Oklahoma City, Las Vegas, Chicago and San Jose.

Despite leading the US in sheer number of bike riders killed, New York didn’t even make the top 20 on a per capita basis.

But however you look at it, it’s still too damn many.

Then again, even one traffic death is one too many.

………

The LAPD is continuing the hunt for the hit-and-run motorcyclist who slammed into a 13-year old boy in a Boyle Heights crosswalk.

Joshua Mora was crossing Whittier Blvd at Osme Ave when he was struck by the speeding motorbike rider, who left him sprawled and bleeding in the street as he angrily got back on his bike and sped away.

The crash cost Mora his right leg.

There’s a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible — thanks to the city’s standing hit-and-run reward program — while a crowdfunding campaign for the victim has raised slightly more than the $30,000 goal.

Meanwhile, a protest will be held at the site this Saturday to demand justice and safer streets.

………

Streets For All will host their next virtual happy hour on Wednesday, with new CD5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky.

………

The National Association of City Transportation Officials, aka NACTO, is looking for a new director of engagement.

Which sounds like a position better suited to The Batchelor, but it pays up to 150 grand.

………

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

No bias here. London’s Daily Mail gets its knickers in a twist over a bike-riding woman ignoring the country’s widest bike lane. Never mind that there are any number of reasons why she might not have used it.

………

Local 

The LAPD’s Olympic Station held a BBQ fundraiser on Wednesday to help send four of their fellow officers to the annual New Jersey to DC Police Unity Tour to honor fallen police officers.

A writer for the Los Angeles Times walks all 25 miles of Sunset Blvd in a single dayThat’s long been one of my favorite LA bike rides, taking you through a microcosm of virtually every type of LA neighborhood from DTLA to the coast. Although it’s a lot more fun if you do it when it’s not choked with cars and drivers.

 

State

A father in Aliso Viejo credits an Apple AirTag with recovering his daughter’s stolen ebike, reclaiming it from the thief himself when sheriff’s deputies were unable to find it. Although you should be cautious about that doing yourself, since you never know if the thief might be armed.

San Diego’s ArtReach will auction off Electra bicycles designed by local artists, to benefit young people who wouldn’t otherwise have access to art programs.

Berkeley is indefinitely postponing a bike and pedestrian friendly redesign of Hopkins Street, citing pervasive staffing shortages, as well as unresolved safety issues and regulatory concerns.

Streetsblog reports San Francisco’s approval of an unpopular two-way, centerline bike lane on Valencia Street makes more sense when you consider it was the only option presented to the city’s transportation board.

 

National

LiveStrong rates the best bicycling shoes. I can’t comment since I’ve never worn anything but Sidi. 

Bicycling makes their picks for the year’s 12 best ebikes, topped by the $2,700 Specialized Globe Haul ST cargo bike. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Good question. Transportation for America says in theory, streets are for people, so why aren’t they in practice?

Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus offers his thoughts on the city’s continuing decline in bicycling rates, which began a decade ago.

Consider it the world’s wildest Ciclovía, as Yellowstone National Park opens its gates to bike riders tomorrow, before opening to motorists later this month.

Kindhearted Tennessee cops dug into their own pockets to buy a new bike for a 10-year old boy, after spotting him running next to his bike-riding friends because he didn’t have one.

We recently mentioned a three-year old boy in Maine whose Spider-Man bike was stolen when he went into a store with his mom; now a bighearted woman who can’t even afford shelter for herself used what little money she had to buy him a new one.

The NYPD tickets less than 2% of drivers in blocked bike lane complaints. Which makes sense, since they’re often the ones blocking them.

A Pennsylvania man wants out of prison for vehicular homicide in the death of a 15-year-old boy killed while the kid was riding his bike with friends; he says he’s a good person who always tries to do the right thing, but the local paper says the only thing missing from his parole petition is remorse.

DC is pushing back plans for a 2.7-mile redesign of Connecticut Ave that would reduce speeds and remove parking, and could include spacious seven-foot wide bike lanes.

Six months after they were installed, new bike and pedestrian lanes on a Maryland roadway have eliminated crashes for people walking and biking, while increasing travel times just 30 seconds for morning motor vehicle commuters.

A Virginia bike shop worker blames distracted drivers for most crashes. And he should know, since his last job was more than two decades as a cop.

 

International

Bike Radar explains everything you always wanted to know about fat tire bikes, but were afraid to ask.

Women working in the bike industry say it still has a long way to go to achieve equity and equality.

A British Columbia driver blames poorly designed bike lanes for why he high-centered his car on a concrete lane divider, while bike riders say it’s his own damn fault.

Video captures a violent brawl as a gang tries to steal a London delivery rider’s bicycle.

Flemish officials have set a goal of having over 30% of all trips in Flanders taken by bicycle by the end of this decade.

99 Percent Invisible relates how the Netherlands reclaimed their country from motor vehicles, forever cementing it in the minds of everyone who opposes bike lanes by insisting “This isn’t Amsterdam!”

BMW is jumping on the ebike bandwagon with plans to introduce Mini electric bikes by the end of the year. That’s Mini branded bikes, not tiny bicycles.

 

Competitive Cycling

The bike racing season is gaining speed, as Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen took the victory in the Netherland’s Scheldeprijs, while a resurgent Mark Cavendish finished third in his best result of the year.

GearJunkie considers why the punishing cobbles of Paris-Robaix are the toughest one-day bike race on the pro calendar.

Muscle and Fitness explains everything you need to know about the nascent National Cycling League.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you challenge a three-time Olympic track cycling champ to an ebike race. It only took the indictment of a former president to empty New York’s bike lanes.

And if you’re going to protest Trump’s indictment dressed as the Q-Anon Shaman, try to stay on your bike.

https://twitter.com/thomas__barker/status/1643396957837352960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1643396957837352960%7Ctwgr%5E03b9ab090824d0df7da1b1e9de6e7df818c1efcb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Ftrump-supporter-crashing-bike-new-york-viral-video-1792671

………

Chag Pesach Sameach to all observing Passover tonight. 

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month. 

……….

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Bass elected LA mayor, catch and release in sheriff’s cadet crash, and WeHo considers Fountain bike lanes Monday

Congratulations to Congresswoman Karen Bass on being elected as LA’s new mayor.

The first woman to hold the post, and only the second Black Angeleno, Bass defeated billionaire mall developer Rick Caruso, despite being outspent 11 to 1 as he dropped well over $100 million on his own campaign.

The question for us is whether the new mayor’s professed focus on homelessness, crime and housing authority will preclude desperately needed efforts to transform our streets to improve safety and get Angelenos out of their cars.

Let’s hope Streets For All and BikeLA, formerly the LACBC, are already in contact with her office to set up a meeting.

Because after years of neglect under outgoing Mayor Eric Garcetti, and successful efforts by various councilmembers to block progress in their districts, we don’t have any time to waste.

Meanwhile, Streetblog’s Joe Linton calls the recent election good news for livability and transportation, with the possible exception of CD11’s Tracy Park, who instantly becomes the most conservative member of the city council.

Park has professed support for multimodal transportation, yet drew much of her supporters from Westside NIMBYs who’ve fought bus and bike improvements.

………

He was arrested for attempted murder.

Until he wasn’t.

Just one day after a wrong-way driver slammed into a phalanx of sheriff’s cadets, injuring 25 people, including five critically — and after reportedly turning the investigation over the the CHP — the LA Country Sheriff’s Department announced that Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez had been arrested on a charge of attempted murder on a peace officer.

Then turned around and announced he had been released without charges due to a lack of evidence.

No, really.

The premature arrest indicated the belief of investigators that Gutierrez had intentionally steered into the recruits, accelerating at he plowed through them, as we had surmised yesterday.

The only problem is a lack of evidence confirming intent. Outgoing Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva stressed that the release is provisional, pending collection of more evidence confirming his actions were intentional.

Why they jumped the gun and arrested Gutierrez on a presumption of guilt, rather than basing the arrest on actual evidence, is an open question at this time.

As is why they have apparently reclaimed the investigation from the CHP, after relinquishing it just one day earlier.

But with Villanueva leaving in a couple of weeks, its likely to become incoming sheriff-elect Robert Luna’s problem.

………

West Hollywood is scheduled to consider whether to add protected bike lanes on deadk=ly Fountain Ave at Monday’s council meeting, which would require a reduction to one lane in each direction as well as removing parking spaces; refer to agenda item 4.B.

The lanes would provide a safer east-west alternative to dangerous Santa Monica Blvd, after the existing painted bike lanes on Santa Monica end east of La Cienega.

However, it would also require the removal of at least 150 parking spaces; an alternative plan for painted bike lanes would require removing up to 40 spaces.

Which means opponents are likely to come out in force in an effort to block it.

Meanwhile, WeHo Mayor Lauren Meister is on track for re-election, while former Councilmember John Heilman enjoys a 246 vote lead over Chelsea Wright for the second and third spots; the top three finishers will be seated on the city council.

Former Councilmember John Duran, who made cancelling the bike lanes the centerpiece of his campaign, is currently languishing out of the running in fifth place.

However, with the exception of Meister, who is already on the council, they won’t be seated in time to effect Monday’s decision on Fountain.

………

This puts the problem of LA drivers in perspective.

………

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

Police in Youngstown, Ohio are looking for a bike rider seen on video near the site of three stolen catalytic converters.

Police now believe the fatal shooting of a 21-year old Bronx basketball player by a man riding an ebike was a case of mistaken identity. Which somehow doesn’t seem to make it any better.

………

Local

The newly rebranded BikeLA is hosting a class on the Essentials of Group Riding this evening, and a South LA Pan Dulce Ride on Sunday.

 

State 

A San Diego woman whose husband was killed by a wrong-way driver while riding his bike to the movies calls on the city’s mayor to mark Sunday’s World Day of Remembrance for victims of traffic violence by doubling the budget for the city’s quick-build protected bike lane program, and lowering speed limits on the most dangerous Vision Zero corridors. Sounds reasonable to me.

Oxnard approved a $3 million plan for sidewalks and bike lanes in the city’s El Rio neighborhood.

Berkeley considers a proposal to offer its own instant ebike rebate program, which could be paired with the state’s ebike rebates, if they ever happen.

Bike co-op Rich City Rides is hosting a bike party and ride to celebrate the third anniversary of the protected bike lane on the Richmond San Rafael Bridge.

 

National

Damn good question. An updated edition of Jeff Speck’s book Walkable City asks why we don’t take traffic violence as seriously as terrorism, when you’re 568 times more likely to die in crash than at the hands of a terrorist.

The 22nd annual Cranksgiving bicycle food drive rolls in cities across the US tomorrow, including a return to downtown Los Angeles after a pandemic pause.

Portland bike advocates are suing the city under a 1971 state law that requires improving infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians any time a street is constructed, reconstructed or relocated. Unfortunately, California doesn’t have a similar law, although Los Angeles could if the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposition passes in 2024. 

An abandoned railroad trestle across a Corpus Christy, Texas bay could become a unique rail-to-trail conversion.

Remember this the next time someone tells you handicapped people can’t ride bikes, as a 70-year old Iowa man is using a recumbent bike to continue riding as he recovers from a debilitating stroke.

Jake and Elwood Blues would be thrilled to know Joliet, Illinois could soon be expanding on the city’s two — yes, 2 — existing bike lanes.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot tosses her security detail under the bus, blaming them for double-parking in a bike lane to get some donuts.

Curbed says don’t blame ebikes for the recent rash of New York battery fires; blame refurbished batteries and mismatched chargers.

Pennsylvania’s governor vetoed a bill that would have allowed curb and parking protected bike lanes in the state, after the legislature tacked on an unrelated provision to strip power from Philadelphia’s district attorney.

More than 1,300 people will ride to Congress tomorrow to demand safer streets, following the route a US diplomat was taking when she was killed by a truck driver while riding in a Bethesda, Maryland bike lane in August.

Seventy-one year old former astronaut Bill McArthur is one of us, one of 700 riders who recently completed a multi-day bike tour across South Carolina.

 

International

Bike Rumor recommends the best gifts for the wrench in your life.

Speaking of handicapped bike riders, a British Paralympian paralyzed from the waist down will attempt to become the first person to ride an adaptive bike across the Antarctic Plateau.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a 13-year old British boy’s bike from his mother’s car after she rushed with him to the hospital when he fell off and broke his collarbone.

A bike advocacy group is urging Amsterdam officials to set a 12 mph speed limit for ebikes on the city’s bike paths, as faster ebikes continue to gain in popularity.

 

Competitive Cycling

A 25-year old Anchorage woman has parlayed her love of bikepacking into a new role as a champion bikepacking endurance cyclist.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be a modern take on the classic Schwinn Stingray. Or maybe made from sustainable plywood. Everyone looks better on a lowrider bike.

And who needs a cargo bike when you can ride your bike with nine kids hanging on?

https://twitter.com/JaikyYadav16/status/1592438950991626241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1592438950991626241%7Ctwgr%5E02995e14f0b9f724efa830ea6cea1714e7f1fc30%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatimes.com%2Ftrending%2Fwtf%2Fvideo-of-man-riding-bicycle-with-9-kids-goes-viral-585052.html

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.