Tag Archive for traffic violence

WeHo: It ain’t the drivers it’s the roads, bike rider busted for being nervous, and maybe LA is better than we think

August 1, 2025 / / No comments
Day 212 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

He gets it.

In a WeHo Times op-ed, 23-year old community organizer Nick Renteria argues that the city is one of the most dangerous in the state when it comes to traffic violence.

As evidenced by the recent hit-and-run deaths of Erica Edwards and Blake Ackerman on Sunset Blvd and Fountain Ave, respectively.

But not, he says, because there is something inherently worse about the city’s drivers, but because the streets are “designed facilitate high traffic flow at the cost of our safety.”

And what’s standing in the way of progress isn’t a lack of evidence, it’s inaction.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

As Renteria says,

Imagine a Sunset Boulevard where people stroll safely beneath the billboards. A Santa Monica Boulevard where outdoor dining isn’t drowned out by speeding cars. A Fountain Avenue where no one has to fear crossing the street or riding a bike.

Imagine a city where Erica and Blake’s deaths are the last. Where we finally say: enough.

We’ve imagined it for years. Now let’s do something about it.

………

No bias here.

Border Patrol officers arrested a man riding a bicycle and questioned his citizenship because he looked “startled and nervous,” even though they were looking for someone else.

After all, why would anyone look nervous when confronted by armed, masked men who may not have worn anything identifying themselves as officers.

The Mexican national now finds himself facing deportation, and charged with a misdemeanor count of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, because he tried to run away and tried to break free from them.

I probably would have done exactly the same thing if I was confronted by a bunch of armed men in masks.

………

Secret Los Angeles makes it sound like the city is rapidly becoming a carfree paradise.

According to the site, Los Angeles is actively investing in innovations to reduce traffic congestion, ranging from subway expansions to new bikeways, including a new transcontinental high-speed rail expected to ope as soon as next year.

Which really would be a secret.

And speaking of secrets, here’s what they have to say about the state of bicycling in the City of Angeles.

Biking in L.A. is on the rise, with new bike trails and bike-friendly upgrades popping up across the city. From coastal paths to urban corridors like the new Rail-to-Rail route, it’s getting easier, safer, and more fun to explore L.A. on two wheels.

Which is kinda true, depending on just where you look.

Although the impression it gives doesn’t exactly align with the reality most of us experience on the streets.

But, yeah.

Maybe someday it will.

………

Police in San Diego are looking for a hit-and-run driver who left a 62-year-old man riding a bicycle lying in the street with serious injuries.

The crash occurred around 7:25 pm Monday in the Golden Hill neighborhood on the 2400 block of F Street.

The suspect was described as a man in his late 20s or early 30s, driving a gray-colored SUV with black rims and possible front end damage, with a woman in the passenger seat.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Traffic Division of the San Diego Police Depart at 858/495-7823 or call anonymously at 888/580-8477.

There’s a $1,000 reward offered by Crime Stoppers.

………

A member of the San Francisco bicycling community is being hailed as a hero for sacrificing his life to protect a group of women and children at a Muni stop.

Twenty-eight-year old Colden Kimber was waiting with his girlfriend when he saw a man harassing the group and stepped between them, only to be fatally stabbed in the neck in what was described as a “completely and utterly unprovoked” attack.

Kimber was a member of the city’s Dolce Vita Cycling team and was a skilled mechanic at American Cyclery, while studying kinesiology at San Francisco State University.

The suspect, 29-year old Sean Collins, has been charged with murder; he was already facing charges for vandalism and burglary, as well as resisting an officer.

A crowdfunding campaign has raised over $44,000 of the $50,000 goal to pay for memorials in San Francisco and Kimber’s native Ithaca, New York, and transportation expenses for his family to attend Collins’ trial.

A memorial ride is tentatively planned for Sept. 7 around the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park.

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

No, wait. Yeah, it’s me.

……….

Gravel Bike California shouts Yreka after riding in NorCal’s Siskiyou County.

……….

Nope, nothing to see here.

Although the only time you’ll see this many people on bikes in Los Angeles is CicLAvia or Critical Mass.

……….

But seriously, how many city’s have a river you can drive in?

………

Thanks to Megan for forwarding this clip showing that comedian Cheri Oteri is one of us.

………

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

No surprise here, as the Ontario, Canada government will appeal a court ruling that the planned removal of three Toronto bike lanes violates the country’s constitution, while Canada’s conservative National Post calls out the province’s “activist judiciary” for inventing a right to bike lanes.

Bedford, England has lifted its draconian ban on bike riding through the town center, but only after thousands of people were “aggressively” fined for the simple crime of riding a bicycle; new rules target “dangerous” bicycling rather than responsible riding.

………

Local 

Pasadena police will conduct yet another of the region’s bicycle and pedestrian safety operations today; while the purpose is to improve safety for people walking or biking, police are required to enforce any violation that could put either group at risk, regardless of who commits it. So ride to the letter of the law until cross the city limits to make sure you’re not the one who gets written up. 

 

State

California kids under the age of 16 can no longer buy a Class 3 ebike, after Governor Newsom signed AB 965 into law.

A San Diego man has declared a Bike Rebellion, with a new podcast and YouTube series profiling people who have chosen bicycling as their primary mode of transportation.

Bakersfield will add new green bike lanes to the city’s California Ave after a repaving project, while assuring drivers it won’t result in the removal of any traffic lanes.

Eight outdoor experts share their favorite bike rides around the Silicon Valley.

There’s not a pit deep enough for a 29-year old woman accused of hitting a nine-year old Novato boy in an effort to steal his bike, until bystanders stepped in to stop her.

 

National

A Minnesota woman credited a bicycle with saving her life, after a tree crashed through her roof at the exact moment she went outside to get her son’s bike, the tree landing right where she had been moments earlier.

The mayor of La Crosse, Wisconsin took a bike ride with community members on Thursday to talk about transportation and the state of the city. Something no Los Angeles mayor has done since Richard Riordan, unless you want to count Antonio Villaraigosa riding next to me at the first CicLAvia. Or maybe it was the second one. 

Good news from Elmhurst, Illinois, where a nine-year old boy was found safe after going missing while riding his bicycle on a bike path; he was found eight miles away in the nearby town of Glen Ellen.

If you build it, they will come. Bicycling is booming in the Motor City thanks to hundreds of miles of bike paths around Detroit, with cross-border cycling becoming an option later this year.

After the state Department of Transportation put in a new separated bike lane, officials in Tonawanda, New York said they didn’t ask for it and don’t want it, and drivers expressed concern about safety on a street where drivers go ten miles below the 40 mph speed limit.

 

International

A writer for Road.cc describes what he’d do to start bicycling on a tight budget.

Of course not. An English man denies he was responsible for killing a 54-year old woman competing in a cycling time trial while he was driving a commercial van, despite allegedly looking a photos of a family barbecue on his cellphone seconds before the crash, then telling police he never saw her because he was too busy looking for his drink bottle.

Cyclist profiles decorated downhill cyclist James Egercz, the man behind Britain’s Craft Bikes.

Apparently, medieval weapons are back in vogue, after a man in the UK was busted for allegedly threatening another man with an axe to steal his bicycle.

A British writer takes a “mad holiday” in France, combing wine and cheese with “near-death experiences” riding down mountainsides on an ebike.

Evidently, France’s Loire Valley is THE bicycling destination for the coming year. Unless maybe you’d rather take a bicycling vacation at Club Med in the Southern French Alps.

Momentum looks at Trondheim, Norway’s pavement-embedded bicycle lift that pushes bike riders uphill at a steady walking pace, and recommends a handful of hills in North America where it would help encourage more people to ride.

Sad news from South Africa, where a 77-year old man was killed while riding his bike through Cape Town, when he was struck with a bottle by a robber trying to steal his cellphone.

 

Competitive Cycling

French cyclist Maeva Squiban won Stage 6 of the Tour de France Femmes in a 20-mile solo breakaway. Even if Velo wrote yesterday that it happened today, opening up a whole new can of quantum theory.

Apparently, nose strips were the hot performance-enhancing accessory at this year’s Tour de France.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you just happen to get stopped by cops while carrying a section of the US-Mexico border wall on your bike. If you’re going to steal a pro cyclist’s bike, maybe don’t take the one with a Danish flag and his name painted on it.

And apparently, we need to credit Streetsblog’s Joe Linton as the founder and editor of this site, at least according to Google AI.

I mean, who knew?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Blaming bad drivers for the real problem on our roads, teaching a sainted pope to ride a bike, and ICE-y bike lanes in DTLA

July 29, 2025 / / No comments
Day 210 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

He gets it.

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, a Colorado auto and traffic safety writer says it’s long past time to address the real problem behind the 845,000 deaths on American roadways.

The poorly trained drivers behind the wheel.

Approximately 94 percent of car crashes involve some form of driver behavior like speeding, distraction, failing to yield or DUI identified as a contributing factor, although this doesn’t mean the driver is always solely responsible — bad roads, confusing or obscured signage, wildlife darting into the road, mechanical failures and other factors play their part, too.

But mostly, the problems lie with us. We aren’t very good drivers. And there is a potential solution: better driver training. If we can fix bad driving, at least partially, we can save thousands of lives.

Although he adds that better eduction of drivers can only do so much to lower the appalling death rate on our roads.

It would be wonderful to lower the death rate from 30,000 deaths a year to 25,000 or 20,000. I don’t think anyone thinks we’re going to get to zero. Some people will just be rotten drivers all their lives, and others will always ignore the rules.

But if we change the narrative and empower people to drive safely and skillfully, that’s a start.

His stats are just a tad out of date, though, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration celebrated last year’s drop to “just” 39,345 traffic deaths, the first time this decade it’s been below 40,000.

And he may be right about never getting to zero, at least as long as humans are doing the driving.

But we can do a hell of a lot better than 20,000 to 25,000 people sacrificed to the almighty motor vehicle every year.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay. 

………

Not many people can claim to have taught both a pope and a saint to ride a bike.

Even if it was the same person.

A Roman Catholic website recounts the story of the legendary Gino Bartali, a two-time winner of both the Giro and the Tour de France, as well as a member of the Italian resistance honored as Righteous Among the Nations for saving an estimated 800 Jews during WWII.

The modest Carmelite Catholic never told his own story, which only came to light after his death.

As if that wasn’t enough to stake his claim to fame, he’s also said to have taught Pope John XXIII, who was canonized in 2014, how to ride a bike.

That alone should be the first miracle to get him sainted.

………

This may not be why people keep dying on our roads.

But it sure as hell doesn’t help.

………

Bicycling lifestyle brand Rapha joined with Los Angeles area bicyclists to mount a ghost bike on Stunt Road for Marvin Cortez, who was killed by a reportedly speeding and reckless driver last month.

Thanks to Aaron for the heads-up. 

………

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

London’s Kensington and Chelsea council said “oopsie,” and cancelled a fine equalling the equivalent of $133 issued to a university professor for the crime of riding his bike in a shared bicycle and pedestrian lane, exactly where he was supposed to.

………

Local 

The Ballona Creek Bike Path will be closed for the next two days for maintenance from Overland Ave to Higuera Street between 6 am and 4 pm

 

State

Singletracks looks at five of California’s best mountain bike trails.

A San Diego public radio station examines Vista’s plans to rip out newly installed protected bike lanes, because drivers just couldn’t deal with them, and a number bicyclists didn’t like them, either.

Santa Barbara County is recruiting bike-riding volunteers to offer direct feedback on “comfort factors” like lane width, and traffic speed and volume, to confirm the results of an AI survey of county streets.

Oakland has broken ground on a $5.4 million project to build a barrier-protected bike lane near the city’s Lake Merritt, to be named for a four-year old girl who was killed there while biking with her father two years ago.

 

National

Electrek calls ebike rebate programs a rare win-win offering cleaner air, less traffic and more mobility for people who need it most, as more cities and states provide them.

Seattle Bike Blog says no, those new lines are fog lines, not bike lanes.

A People Magazine podcast questions whether a University of Idaho student was the victim of a serial killer, after she disappeared while riding her bike to her sister’s house in 1981 and her dismembered body was found floating in the Snake River nine days later.

A new study from an Arizona law firm shows that North Dakota paid the highest dollar cost for bicycling deaths at $14,177 per 1,000 residents between 2020 and 2023, followed by Alaska, Montana and South Dakota. Although the story doesn’t explain how they calculated that cost, and doesn’t provide a link to the study.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. Two years after a teenage boy was killed by a driver while riding on a residential Chicago street, and another bike rider badly injured, the city removed a traffic lane and converted it to a far safer neighborhood greenway.

CNN is finally starting to catch on, as Elon Musk’s The Boring Company promises to solve Nashville’s traffic problems, after the company’s vaporware solutions in other cities.

A Senator from Vermont has introduced a bill to restore the tax deduction for riding a bike to work, which was killed by Republicans during the first Trump administration after nine years, while expanding it to include ebikes, bikeshare and scooters.

The Washington Post provides a reminder that Cycling Without Age allows infirm elderly people to feel the wind in their hair while riding in a pedicab.

 

International

The New York Times “Wellness Around the World” series joins pre-dawn bicycle “trains” in Bogota, Columbia, as groups of up to 100 riders join together for protection against thieves and get their days off to a great start.

A Vietnamese bike touring company is introducing a “bold” ten-day gravel bike tour starting in Saigon, and traveling past tea and coffee-growing highlands, ancient Cham ruins, quiet fishing villages and bustling coastal towns, and the memorial to the infamous My Lai massacre, ending in the UNESCO World Heritage site Hoi An.

 

Competitive Cycling

USA Cycling awarded 40 titles at last week’s four-day 2025 USA Cycling Junior Track National Championships. Seriously, when I was that age, I barely knew bike racing was a thing, let alone track cycling.  

Dutch cyclist Lorena Wiebes won Monday’s stage of the Tour de France Femmes in a “furious” sprint, as race favorites Demi Vollering and Kim Le Court were caught in a late crash, allowing Marianne Vos to reclaim the yellow jersey after Le Court held it for just two days. But does that mean Le Court has to give up her new yellow bike?

The crash left Vollering “limping and emotional” with pain in the knee, glutes and back.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you end the world’s most famous bike race with a fiancé, instead of a trophy.

And that looks like fun.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Three WeHo/Hollywood hit-and-runs within 10 blocks and 20 days, and road-raging driver runs down Fullerton bike rider

July 25, 2025 / / No comments
Day 206 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

This is who we share the road with.

A 33-year old man was arrested for fleeing the scene after crashing into a motorcyclist outside Jones Restaurant in West Hollywood, just eight days after the hit-and-run crash that killed Blake Ackerman just seven blocks away.

And that crash was just three blocks from a hit-and-run crash that killed a 36-year old woman in Hollywood 11 days earlier; unlike the others, no one has been arrested for this one yet.

That’s three hit-and-run crashes, leaving two people dead, within a ten-block area straddling WeHo and Los Angeles in less than three weeks.

Houston, we have a problem.

It’s going to take some major coordination between the two cities to solve it before someone else ends up dead, and another driver flees the scene.

………

This is who we share the road with, part two.

A Fullerton man was intentionally hit head-on by a road-raging hit-and-run driver for the crime of simply tapping the driver’s bumper when he didn’t move his car when the light changed, because he was too busy flirting with a woman to pay attention to the light.

The victim, who was just riding his bike home from work, was lucky to escape serious injury, despite being sent flying off his bike.

That was the driver’s second attempt at running him down. The first came when the driver swerved at him from behind and missed.

He was more successful in his second attempt, after apparently turning around and cutting across traffic lanes to target the victim from the other side of the road.

Fullerton police are looking for as a red two-door car, possibly a Dodge Challenger, and hoping to find security video showing the car’s license plate,

Anyone with information is urged to call the Fullerton Police Department at 714/738-6800.

………

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

No bias here. Yucatán Magazine says bike lanes in Mérida, capital of the Mexican state, are showing mixed results after three years, with some people using them while others still bike in the traffic lanes, while suggesting the mere presence of the lanes contribute to greater traffic congestion. No, too many cars are the cause of traffic congestion. And of course people still ride in traffic lanes if bike lanes don’t take them where they need to go.

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

A former Premier League youth soccer player will spend the next 27 months behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that severely injured a woman crossing a Manchester, England street, while riding an ebike with another man on the back; both men fled, and had to be chased down and caught by bystanders.

………

Local 

The Pasadena Planning Commission unanimously voted to turn North Lake Ave into a new Old Pasadena, with plans calling for wider sidewalks, landscaped medians, a comprehensive streetscape strategy, and new bicycle facilities. Which could mean anything from physically protected bike lanes to a few random bike racks.

A 21-year old Claremont man just finished a nearly 6,000-mile bike ride with two college friends, riding across the country from New Jersey to Seattle, then down to the Mexican border before returning home.

Westlake Village became the latest city to join in on the rush to crack down on ebikes, banning all electric micromobility devices from virtually everywhere but city streets, while allowing sheriff’s deputies to ensure compliance, but “only during lawful stops.” Well, that’s comforting.

 

State

Fullerton’s 3rd Annual Christmas in July Bike Ride will roll through the city’s streets tomorrow, with Santa Claus trading in his sleigh for a mountain bike. Please pass along my wish for Santa that someone will find the road-raging SOB who ran down that Fullerton bike rider, and lock his ass up for a damn long time. 

No surprise here, as a fully separated Class IV bike lane is getting pushback from residents in San Mateo, who say they have been ignored in the design process — and would prefer an additional traffic lane to reduce congestion, even though induced demand means that would probably just make things worse.

 

National

A new report considers why more people aren’t mountain biking, finding problems ranging from perceived risk to the sport being seen as mostly white and male dominated.

A woman who grew up parenting herself with a mother suffering from severe depression says learning to ride a bicycle at 35 allowed her to meet the child she never got to be.

Seattle has a newly built, physically protected bike lane along a section of the bike-friendly city’s waterfront.

Scottsdale, Arizona has banned children aged 16 or below from riding any ebike capable of traveling 21 mph or higher.

That’s how to do it right. Minnesota’s popular and successful ebike rebate system returns for another year, with a 10-day portal to apply. Unlike California, which somehow expects over 100,000 people to apply in a single hour without crashing the system. Again. 

Ebike maker eBliss Global will invest over $4 million into a new Utica, New York factory to onshore production of their bikes beginning this fall, hoping to make the area a center for ebike manufacturing.

Virginia Tech University has raised the threshold to achieve their vaunted 5-Star safety rating, resulting in 139 bike helmet models being downgraded to 4 Stars or below.

 

International

A Mexicali, Mexico bike advocate describes what it’s like to ride a bike in the city that recorded North America’s second-highest temperature at 126° Fahrenheit, or 52.4° Celsius, and what can be done to make biking there better.

A Vancouver woman is creating Strava art, riding her bike across the region using the app to draw images including a piggy bank, crocodile and a T-rex.

An op-ed in the Guardian says the bicycle is an important part of Ireland’s past, and Irish cyclist Ben Healy’s brief time in the Tour de France’s yellow jersey can inspire a revival of bike riding in the country.

Ouch. A Kazakhstan paper asks if the country’s largest city is turning into a car-choked Los Angeles clone.

 

Competitive Cycling

Reuters says Australian Ben O’Connor “stormed to a sensational victory,” on yesterday’s stage 18 of the Tour de France, his “eyes blazing with determination,” as he “launched a ferocious solo attack on the fearsome Col de la Loze.” Well, okay then.

Apparently, the Visma-Lease a Bike team will do anything to stop overall leader Tadej Pogačar from winning his fourth Tour, after brake-checking Pogačar with the team car at the start of yesterday’s stage.

Road.cc examines the “unwritten rules” of the Tour de France, how they’re enforced and how they actually determine how the race plays out.

After becoming the first African man or woman to win a Monument, Kim Le Court reflected on her unusual entry to the sport, taking it up because her parents and brothers were bicyclists, after first trying tennis, golf, touch rugby and soccer.

British former world champ Lizzie Deignan is calling it a career after announcing her pregnancy.

 

Finally…

If you get banned from a bike shop during the day, just let yourself in during the night when it’s closed. And the eternal question of why cyclists shave their legs.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Congress member echoes calls for safer WeHo Streets, and CO cops succeed with hit-and-run alert LAPD and CHP won’t use

July 24, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 205 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Burbank Congressional Representative Laura Friedman echoed last week’s call for safer streets in West Hollywood.

The Beverly Press quotes the 30th District House member as saying,

“We need to be thinking about this from every angle, from the way we design vehicles, to what safety features are in vehicles, to employing technology like speed cameras across the state in a thoughtful way, to driver’s education,” she (Friedman) said.

Friedman also commended West Hollywood and other cities for implementing safer traffic measures, calling the increase in fatal collisions a “public health crisis.”

Because a public health crisis is exactly how we need to be looking at traffic violence. Just like we should consider gun violence, but don’t.

In both cases.

The paper also quotes Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, founder Damian Kevitt citing a “shocking” increase in traffic violence in the city of just 34,000 people.

Kevitt also cited the problem of drivers fleeing following a crash because the penalties for hit-and-run are more lenient than for DUI.

“That is a huge factor and that is where the law needs to catch up,” he said.

Kevitt added that reducing traffic congestion by adding surface area on streets has not been successful in Los Angeles and that using alternative means of transportation is a more effective way of reducing vehicle congestion.

However, we’re not likely to reduce congestion until people feel safer using other forms of transportation on those congested streets.

Egg, meet chicken.

The paper also reminds us about the petition to install a red light camera at Fountain and Gardner.

Which has gathered less than 250 signatures so far, when it should be at least ten times that number by now.

So if you haven’t signed it yet, do it already.

………

The same day an Englewood, Colorado bike rider was seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued a Medina Alert, which is their version of a hit-and-run alert.

Which is exactly how it’s supposed to work.

Maybe someone should tell that to the cops here.

Because the hit-and-run alert programs for both Los Angeles and California were copied from Colorado’s successful program, which itself was based on the very successful program patterned after the Amber alert system that originated in Denver.

The only difference is they use it, and we don’t. Which just might have something to do with why Colorado solved every felony hit-and-run in 2022, while only around 20% ever get solved in California.

Or maybe they just care enough to devote the resources necessary to solve them, and the cops and elected leaders out here don’t.

But at least the LAPD only waited two days to ask for the public’s help this time.

………

A new video game allows you to ride a magical bike through a massive open world in search of some legendary bike part; The Verge calls it “the feel-good game of the summer.”

………

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

No bias here. New York bike riders are understandably frustrated after a nearly 1,000% increase in bike traffic tickets in the second quarter of this year — except their now criminal summons, which require recipients to appear before a judge in criminal court, rather than traffic court.

………

Local 

A Hollywood judge will now determine whether a 62-year old Pasadena man will stand trial for killing his wife, dismembering her and stuffing her remains in a suitcase, then taking his bicycle on a train, riding his bike to North Figueroa and setting the suitcase on fire in a Home Depot parking lot, after his attorney questioned the man’s mental competency. Gee, ya think?

Burbank unveiled its draft Safer Street action plan, including plans for traffic calming measures on nine separate streets; you can weigh in at the August 12th city council meeting.

 

State

Calbike shares strategies used by local advocates in two California cities to add bikeways to state roadways.

Chula Vista became the latest California city to crack down on ebike riders, although they put off enforcement of the new restrictions for 90 days.

Just like West Hollywood last weekend, nearly 100 people in San Rafael gathered outside City Hall Monday evening to honor a “beloved husband, coach and cyclist” who was killed while riding his bike last month, and demand that the city fix the dangerous intersection where he was was run down by a driver.

 

National

Bike Mag examines the impact Black Sabbath and the late Ozzy Osbourne had on mountain biking.

They get it. A Bend, Oregon newspaper says if the state wants more people to ride bikes, it has to invest in bike safety; if not, maybe the city’s bike riders should just stay home.

Seattle Bike Blog says riding your bike to transit is the ultimate hack to get around the city’s freeway construction this summer — and every other day, too.

Two people have already died during this week’s RAGBRAI ride across Iowa, despite receiving prompt medical attention from medical professionals taking part in the multi-day event; meanwhile, the 140-member Air Force Cycling Team is riding along with the RAGBRAI participants to provide assistance to anyone who needs it.

A Milwaukee driver faces up to 31 years behind bars for — allegedly — blowing through a red light and seriously injuring a man riding in a bike lane, while a) FaceTiming with a contracting customer b) smoking a joint, c) driving on a suspended license, and d) driving a car belonging to someone else.

An Atlanta city councilmember got a first-hand look at the dangers bike riders face on the roads, when he was struck by a driver making a U-turn, while he was riding his bike home from a soccer match with his four-year old daughter; his attorney says his bike was properly lit and he was doing everything right.

A new video series tries to normalize bike riding as it follows Tampa, Florida ebike riders on their way to local businesses.

 

International

A Canadian woman just set new Guinness World Records for the fastest speed on a Penny Farthing by a woman at 25.93 mph, and the fastest women’s one kilometer on a Penny Farthing. But bikes like that have only been around for 150 years, so no big deal. 

Friends of a Brazilian man who was killed while riding his bike in London last year plan to reinstall his ghost bike, after it was removed by the Tower Hamlets council just three months later without consulting his family or friends.

An English man discovers there’s nothing like working as a food delivery rider to train for an epic bike ride from the UK to Australia.

A bike-riding man in Singapore faces up to five years behind bars for killing a 70-year old pedestrian by failing to “keep a proper lookout” while riding his bike across an intersection.

 

Competitive Cycling

Italian cyclist Jonathan Milan won his second stage in this year’s Tour de France in a sprint to the finish after a big crash took down a number of riders, including Eritrean Biniam Girmay.

French gendarmes were quick to take down an imposter who tried to ride his bike across the finish line of yesterday’s stage just ahead of the peloton.

Velo offers the “ultimate guide” to all the bikes, components and gear used by the 22 teams competing in the Tour de France Femmes, aka Women’s Tour de France, which kicks off on Saturday.

A 68-year old Phoenix, Arizona woman is the world’s oldest elite-level paracyclist.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you borrow a kids bike to pedal to your first day of NFL training camp. Or when you go over your handlebars, and a TV reporter interrupts his live remote to ensure you’re okay.

And when you’re a convicted felon and known gang member illegally carrying a loaded weapon on your bike, just don’t ride salmon, already.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

US bike deaths climb as traffic deaths drop, falling down a water bike rabbit hole, and a summer solstice bike ride Friday

June 18, 2025 / / Comments Off on US bike deaths climb as traffic deaths drop, falling down a water bike rabbit hole, and a summer solstice bike ride Friday
Day 169 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Talk about a blast from the past.

Cycling West reports that the federal government released their latest stats on traffic violence in the US.

For 2023.

It’s always taken the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, the better part of a year to compile and release the nationwide statistics on traffic deaths and injuries, but nearly a year and a half seems a tad extreme.

Although even that may look good next year, after DOGE cuts decimated the agency.

The good news is that overall traffic deaths dropped 4.3% compared to the previous year.

The bad, bicycling deaths went the opposite direction, going up 4.4%, while bicycling injuries jumped even more, increasing by 8.2% over the year before.

And yes, that includes ebikes as well as traditional bicycles, as well as any other pedal-powered vehicle; presumably, that also includes the faster and more powerful electric motorbikes that at usually lumped in with ebikes.

It’s very disturbing that bicycling deaths continue to climb, as motor vehicles get safer inside and more dangerous outside. Never mind the people operating them.

Equally troubling is that 23% of the 1,166 bicycling deaths in the US two years ago involved hit-and-run drivers, which means there’s a one-in-four chance a driver won’t stick around after a crash, no matter where you live.

………

Amphibious cars are making a comeback, but amphibious bikes have been here all along, with a history going back 160 years.

Thanks to Steven for the heads-up, whose discovery of the term Cyclomer led him down a water bike rabbit hole.

………

Bike Culver City is hosting a Summer Solstice Ride this Friday to celebrate the longest day of the year.

https://twitter.com/BikeCulverCity/status/1935029132808831394

………

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

This is why people keep dying in our streets. A Portland, Oregon bike rider describes what happened when he alleges a road-raging driver intentionally crashed into him as he rode with another person on the popular Pedalpalooza ride; a poorly trained cop blamed him for riding in the “car lane,” before refusing to file charges against the driver because of “conflicting stories.”

………

Local 

Pasadena rejected all bids for a planned North Raymond Ave traffic-calming project aimed at slowing speeding drivers after all the bids exceeded estimates.

 

State

Los Gatos has received funding for a $14.7 million highway widening project intended to relieve summer gridlock from people headed to the beach — although it’s more likely to just make things worse due to induced demand. But at least it includes funds for safer sidewalks and bike lanes.

 

National

Good idea. Oregon legislators are adding an ebike rebate and bike path funding back into the new transportation bill, while increasing the sales tax on luxury cars to fund them. Taxing luxury cars in California could probably fund every bike path in the state. 

A Dallas photographer famed for riding his bike through the city to take “perfect” photos of the city’s skyline is out of commission for awhile, after someone broke in and stole his bicycle — then days later, he confronted another would-be thief inside his apartment.

An Illinois man will have to stay behind bars pending trial for killing a 12-year old boy on a bicycle while driving at more than twice the legal alcohol limit.

The family of a fallen bicyclist has sued the police department in Indianapolis, after the 34-year old father of two was killed when a cop responding to a home invasion drove onto the sidewalk to avoid another driver, and hit his bike head-on.

Some people never learn. A 27-year old Indiana man faces a raft of charges and sentencing enhancements after he was arrested for drunk driving with a blood alcohol level at least twice the legal limit, ten years after he killed a 22-year old woman biking with her cousin while driving with a B.A.C. over three times the legal limit; he served just 4.5 years of a six-year sentence for that one.

Good for him. A 12-year old boy filed suit after New York’s mayor cancelled plans to protect a Williamsburg bike lane, which is currently full of parked cars whose drivers are undeterred by the painted bike lane.

A New Jersey woman is fantasizing about taking a baseball bat to the headlights of the next driver who comes too close to someone she loves, after repeatedly being endangered by entitled drivers during a vigil for a bike-riding child killed by a driver.

Over 55 local, state and national organizations are calling for bike and pedestrian lanes on Maryland’s new Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which will replace the bridge knocked down last year by an out-of-control freighter.

 

International

Your next e-cargo bike could be a four-wheeled, pedal-powered Honda delivery van.

A 75-year old English man became the first person in the country to get a 3D-printed face, after suffering severe burns when he was trapped under a vehicle driven by a drunk and distracted driver while bicycling with two friends, who were also injured.

A record number of British bicyclists sent videos of dangerous drivers to the police for potential prosecution, as 58% of the country’s drivers had no idea how close they could legally pass someone on the bicycle. The law in the UK allows for video evidence of traffic violations, unlike most, if not all of the US, which is still operating in the pre-video — let alone digital — age.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 22-year old man was sentenced to just 15 months behind bars — of which he’ll be required to serve only 2/5 — for destroying evidence of the hit-and-run that killed a 19-year old man riding a bicycle, as well as two other counts of dangerous driving police found on his phone (see above); however, he wasn’t charged for killing the victim due to a lack evidence.

Japanese bike riders will face fines for minor traffic violations beginning April 1st, including the equivalent of $84 for distracted bicycling. And no, that’s not a premature April Fools joke. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-year old British cyclist Ben Wiggins is following in the footsteps, uh, pedal strokes, of his more famous, knighted, Tour de France-winning dad.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your bike-riding barber makes house calls. When you’re out riding with friends, maybe try not to ride through a military live-fire exercise.

And why wait until the bikes leave the shop before crashing into them?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

WHO promotes bike/walk safety for healthier communities, and gear up for Bike Week events starting today in WeHo

May 13, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 133 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

She gets it.

Forbes talks with Etienne Krug, director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Department for the Social Determinants of Health, who says walking and bicycling help reduce the risk of the leading causes of premature death, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer, as well as curbing air pollution, reducing traffic congestion and fighting climate change.

But before communities can enjoy the obvious benefits, we’ll have to do something about the surging rate of bicycling and walking deaths. “At least one pedestrian or cyclist is killed on the world’s roads every 2 minutes,” according to Krug.

Which is why WHO is releasing a new toolkit to help make the roads safer to promote walking and bicycling.

Maybe we can find a way to get Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom to read the damn thing.

We can dream, right?

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

Metro is offering free rides on all Metro trains and buses, as well as Metro Bike and Metro Micro for Thursday’s Bike to Work Day, as well as 30-day Metro Bike memberships for a buck, and half-off one-year memberships.

Metrolink is also offering free rides Thursday for anyone boarding with a bicycle. And the same goes for LADOT’s DASH and Commuter Express buses.

Unfortunately, Metro has given up on the Bike to Work Day pitstops we used to enjoy in those heady pre-pandemic days. But you can still find them in Culver City, Pasadena and Beverly Hills (thanks to Streetsblog for those links). 

And West Hollywood is getting the jump on everyone else by marking Bike Month with a free “pit stop” from 8 to 10 this morning — yes, today — at the northeast corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Hancock Ave, featuring safety lights, refreshments and info on local bike projects.

………

Arnold urges us to unite for a pollution-free future.

So that means he got rid of his massive Hummer and Yukon SUVs, right?

………

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

Bike riders are showing up in force to city council meetings in Hartford, Connecticut to protest a plan to roll back the city’s commitment to building bike lanes if small business owners think they will somehow negatively affect them. Even though the opposite is usually true.

A British man was sentenced to life in prison for deliberately ramming a 22-year old ebike rider not once, but twice to teach him a lesson for “showboating” and popping wheelies, then fleeing the scene and leaving the victim to die alone in the street; although in this case, life means a minimum of 22 years behind bars, which means the 21-year old driver will be at least 43 before he’s eligible to get out.

No bias here. An “irate” British bike rider complained on Reddit about being “sick to death” of finding drivers parked in bike lanes every time he goes out for a ride. Yet the tabloids somehow turned that simple complaint around to complain about “entitled” bike riders hogging the sidewalk.

I'm sick to death of cars parking on cycle lanes. This happens each and every time I ride.
byu/d49k inukbike

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers photos from, and an open thread about, last weekend’s Beach Streets in Long Beach.

This Saturday, Metro is officially opening the initial phase of the long-awaited Rail-to-Rail multi-use path in South LA, a rail-to-trail conversion between the A Line Slauson Station and the Fairview Heights K Line Station; you can get more information and RSVP here.

Speaking of Metro, they will finally break ground on the long-gestating NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit line next month, which, unlike the Vermont BRT line, will include protected bike lanes along Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock.

 

State

Nothing like describing the California Ebike Incentive Program’s massive failure in the second round of incentives, when the site crashed as soon as it opened, as just a “glitch.”

A Bakersfield judge postponed until July the murder trial of the man accused of the alleged drunken hit-and-run that killed a 30-year old woman riding a bicycle; 27-year old Caleb Nathaniel Rodriguez is also charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit and run causing death and driving on a license suspended for DUI.

San Francisco’s new Biking and Rolling Plan promises to connect the city’s bike lanes into a complete network putting everyone in the city within a quarter mile of a bike lane within the next 20 years. Then again, Los Angeles promised the same thing, and you know how that worked out.

 

National

Tragic news from Everett, Washington, where a 13-year old boy riding an ebike was killed when he ran into a braided cable someone had illegally strung between a fence and a post, something his parents say should have never been there in the first place.

The mayor of Spokane, Washington is inviting the public to ride with him on tomorrow’s National Bike to Work Day. Yet somehow, LA’s ostensibly bike-riding mayor isn’t inviting anyone to ride with her, and hasn’t been seen on one since she was elected in 2022. 

Over 200 bike riders have signed up for the 31st annual ride up and over Colorado’s 12,095-foot Independence Pass this Saturday, offering a whopping 2,300 feet of vertical climbing over the short ten-mile distance.

An Iowa man says he saves hundreds of dollars each month by biking to work nearly every day instead of driving. Which oddly still surprises people, even though we keep trying to tell them that.

A man was found dead after becoming separated from his riding companion on a Minnesota river trail; his body was found eight miles away from where he was last seen, and on the other side of the river.

A Minnesota man is on a mission to give 22,000 bike helmets to kids, after he suffered a brain injury when he was 18 after a friend lost control of his car and spun out after a night of partying. So wouldn’t it make more sense to give out car helmets, instead?

University professors in Michigan and Florida are researching perceptions on bicyclist comfort and safety as we “prepare for an e-bike future,” funded by a $610,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Although they might want to check on that funding, since most bike and pedestrian projects are getting DOGE’d.

A writer for New York Streetsblog is challenging candidates for mayor to ride with him; yesterday he rode with a political novice with 30 years experience riding a bicycle, and a pro-bike, pro-business and pro-police agenda. Although his best qualification may be that he didn’t have a bribery indictment dismissed by federal prosecutors like the city’s current mayor, after — allegedly — promising to cooperate with immigration raids. 

A Florida man was collateral damage when police discovered that a man who had crashed his car into a house had been fatally shot in the chest — then discovered a man on a bicycle had died after being trapped under the car.

 

International

Bicycling examines the case of a former Toronto cop called Canada’s most infamous and prolific bicycle thief, after police raids recovered more than 3,000 bicycles. You’ll have to subscribe to the magazine if you want to read it, though, but you can find the story on Wikipedia.

That’s more like it. A driver in the Cayman Islands was warned he could be prosecuted after he was recorded dangerously passing bicyclists participating in a memorial ride for a fallen bike rider, while driving on the right shoulder of the roadway.

Dublin, Ireland is celebrating Bike Week and Climate Week by telling bike riders to dismount on part of its longest cycle route. Which is kind of a problem for handcyclists and other people who have difficulty walking.

 

Competitive Cycling

A San Diego man will attempt to set four separate world records in a single six-hour ride on the city’s velodrome to raise awareness and funds for the local Parkinson’s community; he’ll attempt to set age group records in 70-74 age group for the farthest distance in six hours, fastest 100 kilometers, fastest 100 miles, and fastest 200 kilometers. They tell me that’s where I’m probably headed in ten to fifteen years. And no, I don’t mean San Diego. Or the velodrome.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you buy a $390 ebike directly from China, and are pleasantly surprised when it doesn’t suck. Your next cargo bike could have a steering wheel over a single tire, with a detachable modular trailer.

And nothing like describing new bikepacking campers using a line from Seinfeld about boobs.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Bass slash-and-burn budget threatens street safety & CicLAvia, and how to apply for CA ebike vouchers Tuesday

April 25, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 115 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Evidently, I’ve not the only one concerned about the effect of the draconian budget cuts and layoffs proposed by Mayor Karen Bass.

Streets For All sent out the following email yesterday making many of the same points.

This week, Mayor Bass released her proposed budget for 2025-2026. This budget plans to slash most departments’ funding, as well as eliminate 1,650 city positions and 1,074 vacancies. It also proposes deferring capital projects, like planned road and infrastructure improvements.

This budget is a disaster for road safety and even basic services.You can read our detailed analysis here. This budget will result significantly more broken streets and sidewalks. New pedestrian and bike projects, including many Olympics projects, will be delayed. All streetlight repairs will be paused until 2027. Billions in grant funded street safety and mobility projects may be lost. And there may be no staffing to support open streets events like CicLAvia.

There are only TWO opportunities to comment on the Mayor’s proposed budget, and they are both in person:

APRIL 25, 2025 at 1pm
Van Nuys City Hall
14410 Sylvian Street
Van Nuys, CA 91401

APRIL 28, 2025 at 4pm
City Hall Council Chamber, Room 340
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Budget Chair Katy Yaroslavsky will be hosting a session in person:
APRIL 26, 2025 at 11am
Westwood
RSVP for address

Tell the Mayor that cutting funding for our streets will lead to more crashes, costing the City even more in liability payouts – part of why the city is in such financial distress to begin with. This budget would also lead to a near pause of any new projects, and delay existing ones – freezing our infrastructure during a time period when we are about to host the World Cup and Olympics.

While showing up in person is most effective, if you cannot attend you may comment on the council file.

Thank you for fighting for a safe, sustainable, and equitable future for Los Angeles and beyond!

………

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton takes an in-depth look at the second round of the California ebike voucher program, including how to apply.

The Air Resources Board’s long–delayed and controversial e-bike voucher program will be opening its application portal for a second time at 6:00 p.m. on April 29th. This time instead of a first-come, first-serve approach that left out tens of thousands of hopeful applicants, the system will randomly choose 1,000 people who join their virtual waiting room between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.

To join the waiting room, go to ebikeincentives.org and select the ‘APPLY’ button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

He also notes that you are encouraged to arrive early to the portal to file your application.

But don’t bother if you don’t meet the financial qualifications, and aren’t willing to jump through their hoops to document your income — and watch a couple of pretty meaningless videos.

The program is only offering 1,000 vouchers this time, which represents less than 1% of the people who tried to apply for the first round of vouchers.

The 1,000 lucky people will be selected through a form of lottery. You’re encourage to stick around through the full process, until you receive a notification that you either were or weren’t selected to apply.

Surprisingly, it looks like I may actually qualify this time.

But whether I’ll actually bother, given the massive shitshow mess they made of the first round, remains to be determined.

………

Evidently, life is cheap in the UK.

Mansfield Town striker Lucas Akins was sentenced to 14 months behind bars for carelessly killing a 33-year old man riding a bicycle, in a crash caught on the victim’s bike cam.

Yet Akins seemed to demonstrate just how little it bothered him by playing in a League One soccer match the same day he entered his not guilty plea in court.

The team issued a statement expressing their condolences to the family, and said they’re “considering its position with regards to” Akins.

Especially since he won’t be on the pitch for the better part of the next few seasons.

………

PinkBike takes a look at the creation of Bradley Bike Park in San Marcos, calling it “a rideable masterpiece built against all odds on near-flat ground,” and “artistry etched in dirt.”

………

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

A British couple were threatened and spat on by a pair of men who were riding their bikes next to the couple’s car, after they brought the car to a stop, for no apparent reason. Although I would guess thee may be another side to the story, and that maybe the driver did something to tick ’em off. But regardless of what it may have been, nothing justifies violence.

………

Local 

Metro still hasn’t done anything with the long-delayed second phase of the Metro Mobility Wallet, which is supposed to provide participants with $1,800 to spend on any form of transportation, from bus passes and rideshare to bikeshare, or even buying a bicycle. But the program is worthless if the agency doesn’t follow through by actually funding their debit cards.

Speaking of Metro, CEO Stephanie Wiggins will continue to lead the agency for another four — or maybe five — years, after the Metro board voted unanimously to extend her contract, at whopping half a million dollars a year, a 20% increase over her previous contract. Which means they’ll give everyone else who works for Metro a similar pay bump, right?

Redondo Beach says ebike riders are behaving better now.

SoCal’s killer highway claimed another victim, as Torrance residents called for improved safety after a 38-year old man was hit and killed by multiple drivers as he crossed the street Saturday night — including the heartless coward who hit him first, and fled the scene without stopping. Although I wonder whether Killer PCH or deadly Vista del Mar, aka Deadly del Mar, actually kills more people on a per-mile basis. Thanks to How The West Was Saved for the heads-up. 

 

State

Rancho Mirage does Bike Month, or Bike Safety Month, the right way by introducing plan for three bike safety projects, including widened bike lanes, improved signage, and designated bike paths, to be completed by the end of summer.

Los Gatos opened a long-anticipated bike and pedestrian bridge linking Highway 9 to the Los Gatos Creek Trailhead.

 

National

The Seattle Times visits the forested Washington State segment of the 5,000-mile mountain bike trail along West Coast.

A 32-year old man from the US faces charges for crossing into the country from Mexico on a bicycle stuffed with fentanyl and meth.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell kicked off the NFL Draft in Green Bay with a wobbly bike ride onto the stage, in a nod to the Packers tradition of riding borrowed bicycles to the first day of camp. But it wasn’t enough to silence the boos from fans.

Surprisingly, the New York Times picks the Dahon Mariner D8 as the best foldie over Tern’s Link D8, with the famed Brompton taking third.

New York Streetsblog says beyond treating bicyclists like an afterthought, the New York Parks Department has been downright unfriendly to people on bicycles, even though it controls some of the city’s most important carfree infrastructure.

Finishing our New York trifecta, the city announced a whopping 127 Open Streets events to take place this spring and summer, including a belated Earth Day celebration featuring 54 carfree streets and plazas throughout the five boroughs.

Passaic New Jersey opened a small bikeshare system that will be free to local residents.

People in Louisiana just seem to have more fun than the rest of us, even on a five-day fundraising ride through Cajun country.

 

International

Even in the Cayman Islands, bicyclists are demanding safer streets, in the wake of a hit-and-run that killed a bike rider on Easter Monday.

Here’s a few more for your bike bucket list, as Momentum recommends Europe’s best rail trails for a unique bicycling vacation. I’ll take the one that follows the Danube, thank you. Or maybe the one that runs through Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. 

Evidently, congestion pricing and better bikeways work, since London’s Square Mile, aka the sparely populated financial district that employs a half-million people each day — now averages nearly twice as many bicycles as cars, following a 57% jump in bicycling rates in just two years.

London bicyclists are now expected to adhere to a code of conduct in the city’s parks, as a new survey shows 86% Londoners think the parks’ 20 mph speed limit should apply to bicycles, too.

A new survey shows that most British drivers still don’t understand how to share the road with bicyclists, three years after the rules of the road were changed to improve bike safety. The same survey in the US would probably show similar results, even though most of our rules haven’t changed in decades. 

In an unusual move, Irish police, aka Gardaí, reached out to bike clubs to see if any were riding in the area where a 56-year old farmer went missing last month, in hopes that maybe someone saw him. Something they should do more often, since we have a lot more eyes on the streets than they do.

Now you, too, can fix your own light when your ebike maker goes belly-up, like the Netherlands’ VanMoof.

Mind your biking behavior in Japan next April, when police will start fining bicyclists for “minor” violations like using a cellphone while riding, and running red lights.

 

Finally…

Why buy a custom-made bicycle when you can just make your own damn bike? Your next tire pump could look like a tiny little robot.

And why just go for a bike ride, when you could earn crypto with every ride.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Caltrans posts surprising PCH draft master plan, LA County raises penalty for street takeovers, and a long list of bike events

April 17, 2025 / / Comments Off on Caltrans posts surprising PCH draft master plan, LA County raises penalty for street takeovers, and a long list of bike events
Day 107 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

SoCal’s killer highway could finally see some much-needed changes.

If we can wait that long.

Admittedly, I didn’t have high hopes for the state transportation agency’s Pacific Coast Highway Master Plan Feasibility Study, given their long auto-centric history focusing more on what can’t be done to improve safety than on what can.

But the draft document seems to offer significant safety changes on the 22-mile long stretch through Malibu, though with one key caveat.

As Streetsblog’s Damien Newton puts it, the draft master plan “covers twenty years of projects that could be completed, should funding become available.”

Okay, make that two caveats, given a lack of funding and the extensive timeline.

The plan calls for protected bike lanes for nearly the full length, other than a nearly three-mile stretch where the roadway is considered too narrow, with too many driveways to provide safe protection.

It also includes numerous pedestrian improvements, as well as calling for narrowing traffic lanes to 10′-6” wide, the minimum standard for Complete Streets, according to Caltrans.

Other possible traffic calming improvements — key word “possible” — include, according to Newton, “gateway signage, speed tables at high-traffic crossings, trees, and angled parking,” as well as potential traffic circles and roundabouts, including at the entrance to El Matador State Beach.

But as noted above, the problem — other than coming up with the funding, which could be difficult given the current environment — is the extensive timeline.

As a list of short-term projects makes clear, most of the proposed changes will come 10 t0 20 years from now, if they happen at all.

A major problem given what Newton terms the “staggering” 1,245 deaths and serious injuries from traffic violence in just a five year period, from 2018 to 2023.

Which means the improvements will likely come too late for many bike riders who have taken their chances riding the coast highway for all those years, myself included.

But it could leave a much safer and more livable highway for those who follow.

Photo from Caltrans press release.

………

LA County supervisors passed a motion doubling the penalty for participating in a street takeover.

Which is nice, and needed. But it probably won’t actually stop anyone.

Thanks to Damian Kevitt for the heads-up.

………

The most impressive thing about this one is watching the guy recover from a death wobble after descending a flight of stairs, more than once.

………

We’ve got a long list of Twitter/X posts to catch up on, so my apologies in advance if Elon’s meddling on the site prevents them from embedding properly.

The San Diego Bike Coalition wants to pump up your tires and offer light refreshments this morning.

https://twitter.com/sdbikecoalition/status/1912538639462199489

Streets Are For Everyone reminds us about the bike ride and protest to mark the 3rd anniversary of Andrew Jelmert’s death at the hands of a speeding hit-and-run driver on Griffith Park’s Crystal Springs Drive this Saturday, as promised safety improvements continue to be caught in LA’s typical red tape.

https://twitter.com/StreetsR4Every1/status/1912234183696781562

BikeLA, aka the former Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, is joining Metro for a belated Earth Day Community Climate Action Day on Saturday, April 26th.

BikeLA is also inviting advocates to join them for a Handlebar Happy Hour at Santa Monica Brew Works on Monday, which is the actual Earth Day.

Mark your calendar for the next CicLAvia on Sunday, June 22nd, as Historic South Central meets Watts.

https://twitter.com/CicLAvia/status/1912627142824706228

The Militant Angeleno reminds us that ActiveSGV is hosting a five-mile open streets event following CicLAvia the same day, running from South Pasadena to San Gabriel from 3 pm to 8 pm.

………

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

Toronto bicyclists are challenging Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s new law allowing the province to rip out bike lanes in the city, arguing that the law violates the country’s national charter; Bloomberg says the controversy demonstrates why the best bike lanes always get the blame.

A London bike rider complains about gates on the the city’s bike network that are intended to keep out motorbikes and quad bikes, but instead deter elderly and disabled people from riding a bike, arguing the “anti-bike” gates turn Low Traffic Neighborhoods into low bicycling ones.

The owner of a Scottish pizzeria demands that the city rip out new bike lanes in front of his shop, even though it’s part of an $8 million project to increase pedestrian traffic and boost the city’s “café culture and night-time economy,” which should benefit him, too.

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

A New Zealand dog nearly lost his leg when he was struck by an ebike rider, which completely severed a tendon in the pup’s leg, after the dog’s owner says two men “came flying around the corner” doing at least 18 mph on their ebikes, and only said “get your fucking dog under control” before riding off; however, the 73-year old ebike rider says he was only doing 10 mph, and never saw the dog.

………

Local 

South Pasadena warns about bike thieves, noting that most of the city’s stolen bikes were secured with flimsy cable locks that are easily cut; they also suggest noting your bike’s make, model, color, cost and serial number, as well as attaching an AirTag to your bike. Which gives us another opportunity to recommend free lifetime registration with Bike Index, which securely records all that information, along with photos of your bike — before anything happens to it. 

 

State

An engineering grad student at UC San Diego, and a handful of other bicycle enthusiasts, spend their Sunday’s bringing bicycles back to life with Bikes del Pueblo in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood, working on a sliding scale that allows people to pay what they can afford.

Bicycling says the new Levo 4 e-mountain bike from Morgan Hill-based Specialized predestines a future where ebike features that are now included in the cost of the bike will cost you extra. But they hid the story behind their paywall for members only, so you’re on your on if the magazine blocks you.

 

National

A Texas man was killed when he allegedly went through a red light on his ebike, and crashed into the side of an ambulance.

New York is installing new, smaller traffic signals mounted on the side of the road at eye level for people riding bicycles to make streets safer for bike riders and other street users, while politely not saying they’re hoping bicyclists will actually obey them.

At least one city is funding Vision Zero, with the new budget proposed by Philadelphia’s mayor for the coming year containing $5 million earmarked for Vision Zero, along with another $5 million for a protected bike lane.

 

International

A British writer says electric road bikes are as dead as wool jerseys and leather helmets. Or maybe not.

The European Union could change the definition of ebikes, with a new proposal limiting them to having “bicycle-like characteristics,” with a maximum 1:6 power boost ratio, and a top speed of just 10 mph.

The bike-centric Netherlands is pushing a new campaign to get people to wear bike helmets, in a country where almost no one does; the campaign notes an average of two hundred bike riders a day end up in emergency rooms with head injuries.

Melbourne, Australia is about to open a new, eye-catching green bicycle bridge as part of the city’s bicycle superhighway; one bicyclist described it as like “riding through a disco.”

A police interview with Australian Olympic champ Rohan Dennis just hours after the death of his wife, fellow Olympian Melissa Hoskins, reveals it began with a typical argument over kitchen renovations, before she fell under his SUV trying to hold onto the door handle as he sped away.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mountain biking events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are now set to be held in the San Gabriel Mountains at Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to intentionally swerve your car at a bike rider, maybe don’t stream it live on Twitch. Your new retro-style camper could be made from recycled milk cartons, complete with a built-in set of pro mountain bike tools.

And get ready for waxed chains and new kits that are easier to poop in.

Okay, maybe not actually poop in.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

New report spells out LA’s Vision Zero fail, and bike riders injured by drivers in South LA and Huntington Beach hit-and-runs

April 16, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 106 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

No surprise here.

In a report that really shouldn’t surprise anyone, a new city audit has shown that LA’s Vision Zero program has failed miserably in ending traffic deaths by this year.

A detailed report conducted by consulting company KPMG, along with a separate LADOT analysis from Fehr & Peers, concludes that “the level of enthusiasm at City Hall” for Vision Zero has decreased since the program was launched, according to public radio station and website LAist.

In fact, half of the program’s 56 “actions and strategies” that were supposed to have been completed five years were still unfinished at the start of last year.

And probably still are.

According to LAist,

“Some of the reasons cited include the pandemic, conflicts of personality, lack of total buy-in for implementation, disagreements over how the program should be administered and scaling issues,” the audit said.

Never mind the city council’s failure to adequately fund the program, as well as efforts by councilmembers to block needed projects in their own districts.

Without political support and lack of communication from council members about the program, Vision Zero becomes less effective, the audit said…

The audit also pointed out that the city overly focused on infrastructure and engineering, to the detriment of public education and regular monitoring of the program’s progress.

To put it mildly.

In fact, traffic fatalities jumped 26% in 2024 compared to when then-Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the program sitting outdoors behind his bigass desk.

According to UC Berkeley transportation safety researcher Matthew Raifman, traffic fatalities in Los Angeles have gone up faster than the national average, with more bike and pedestrian deaths than the other four most populated US cities.

And yes, that includes New York, which has over twice the population.

All of which is exactly what we warned about since the inception of Vision Zero in Los Angeles, when the city conducted an extensive round of public meetings to gather input — and proceeded to ignore the findings, coming up with a plan that left nearly all of it out.

Then addressed the program with the previously mentioned lack of funding and a failure of political will, compounded by a lack of buy-in from, and coordination between, the city’s many siloed departments and agencies.

The report calls for a recommitment to Vision Zero in Los Angeles, while offering a long, long list of recommendations to halt injuries and deaths from traffic violence.

But recommitment isn’t necessary. What is necessary is actually committing to it for the first time, because city leaders never did.

The LADOT report from Fehr & Peers includes an updated listing of the city’s High Injury Network, which is now called Priority Intersections and Corridors, for some unknown reason.

At least we know this report was sent directly to Mayor Karen Bass.

Although whether she’ll actually read it and act on it — or whether it will get buried under countless other priorities, from rebuilding after the Palisades Fire to the city’s massive budget shortfall — remains to be determined.

I wouldn’t hold your breath.

But as they say, hope springs eternal.

………

The LAPD is looking for a hit-and-run driver who crashed into a 15-year old boy as he rode his bike to school on a South LA sidewalk last week, in a collision caught on video.

Sebastian Carrillo was riding along Nadeau Street near Croesus Ave when the driver made a right turn directly into him, either turning short into a driveway or intentionally hitting him, as his father says it looks like attempted murder to him.

Carrillo was lucky to escape with a concussion, as well as cuts, bumps and bruises that required stitches. And no, he doesn’t appear to have been wearing a helmet, even though that’s required for anyone under 18.

The suspect vehicle is described as a newer black BMW, possibly a 2025, with front end damage from the crash.

The City of Los Angeles offers a standing $5,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting injuries.

………

Huntington Beach police are looking for their own felony hit-and-run driver, after a man in a minivan left someone riding a bicycle lying in the roadway with “significant” injuries last month.

The victim was reportedly struck by a Hispanic man between 20 and 30 years old, while riding near Arnett Drive and Irby Lane around 11 pm on Saturday, March 29th.

The suspect vehicle is described as a possible Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey, metallic gray, silver or blue, with likely damage to the bumper, hood and windshield.

The license plate may have the characters 7, T, A and E, though not necessarily in that order.

Anyone was information was urged to call Huntington Beach Traffic Investigator V. Rattanchandani at 714/536-5231, or anonymously to OC Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

But unlike Los Angeles, Huntington Beach doesn’t offer a standing reward for hit-and-run drivers.

………

Today marks the 3rd Anniversary of the hit and run that killed Andrew Jelmert in Griffith Park as he trained for the AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.

Yet three years later, Los Angeles has still not started a series of fully funded and shovel-ready safety improvements in the park, including a massive traffic calming project on Crystal Springs Drive where Jelmert was killed by a speeding driver, even though that construction was supposed to start last summer.

Streets Are For Everyone will be hosting a remembrance event, advocacy ride and protest this Saturday to call attention to the dangers on the road, as well as the needless red tape holding up the desperately needed work.

As we’ve said before, cars don’t belong in parks. And we certainly don’t need a roadway used by drivers traveling at highway speeds to bypass traffic on the nearby freeway.

………

Good for him.

A New Jersey judge tossed out a defense argument that the blood alcohol content of the hockey-playing Gaudreau brothers contributed to their own deaths.

The judge agreed the issue was moot under New Jersey criminal law, and upheld all of the charges against “allegedly drunken and enraged driver” Sean Higgins, including two counts each of manslaughter and vehicular homicide.

Witnesses to the crash told police that the brothers were riding their bikes single file on the side of the road when Higgins allegedly passed two other vehicles on the right, with two wheels on the grass verge, and slammed into their bikes from behind, killing them both.

Higgins faces a up to 70 years behind bars if he’s convicted on all counts; his lawyers have already rejected a plea of 35 years.

………

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

Authorities in Windsor, Ontario threw the book at a road-raging bike rider, filing a ten-count indictment against the 41-year old man for allegedly following a car full of people after an argument, damaging three vehicles belonging to them, then threatening them with a weapon when they confronted him.

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton spots a new bike lane on Bonnie Brae Street in Westlake, as well as partially-protected bike lanes being installed on Mission Road in Boyle Heights.

 

State

Encinitas bicyclists may be breathing a sigh of relief, after the city’s traffic commissioner proposed replacing the concrete barriers protecting a bike lane on the Coast Highway with a wider, painted bike lane, after 19 recorded bicycle crashes from running into the barriers, including one death.

Police in San Diego are asking for the public’s help in identifying the drivers of two cars who struck a man riding an ebike, and left him in the street to die; they’re looking for a white car, possibly a 2015 to 2023 Dodge Charger with black-and-yellow license plates, and another car that could have been a Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan with a black or tinted glass-topped roof.

Forty Ontario kids got new bikes and helmets courtesy of Los Angeles Kings affiliate hockey team The Ontario Reign, as well as other local businesses and organizations.

Riverside County has jumped on the anti-ebike bandwagon, giving preliminary approval to an ordinance restricting where they can be ridden.

Velo looks at all the new and unreleased gravel bikes from last week’s Sea Otter Classic.

San Raphael is beginning the process of developing a new bike and pedestrian plan to cover the next five to ten years. Let’s just hope they don’t have to go to the voters to force the city to implement it, like a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name. 

 

National

Police in Oregon arrested a third suspect in the death of a Hood River man who was run down trying to stop the suspects from stealing his bicycle.

Life is cheap in Idaho, where a gravel truck driver was sentenced to just 150 days behind bars after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter, for killing a 14-year old boy as he was standing next to his bicycle on the shoulder of the roadway.

A Wisconsin man is riding his bike from Los Angeles to Denver to promote organ donations, as well as meet the two-and-a-half year old girl who received part of his own liver.

The driver who killed a Philadelphia pediatrician as she rode her bike to work at a children’s hospital pled guilty to vehicular homicide, DUI and involuntary manslaughter, among other charges; he swerved into the bike lane she was riding in while driving at twice the legal alcohol limit.

A Georgia state legislator pled guilty to reduced charges after prosecutors dropped multiple DUI charges for hitting a person riding in a bike lane;  he was originally charged with driving under the influence of both alcohol and multiple drugs.

 

International

Momentum explains what a road diet is, and why cities should embrace it — starting with improving safety for all road users.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a careless driver walked without a day behind bars for breaking a woman’s leg in two places as she rode her bike, after the judge sentenced him to community service and took away his license for a whole year.

Students at a Serbian university formed a bicycle inside a heart using their own bodies to show support for Serbian students who rode their bikes to Strasbourg, France to plead for support from European Union leaders for greater freedom in their country,

 

Competitive Cycling

Double Olympic champ Remco Evenepoel is returning to racing this Friday at Belgium’s Brabantse Pijl, after he suffered serious injuries when he was doored by a postal worker while on a December training ride.

Cyclist considers which men’s WorldTour teams are in danger of relegation when the current UCI points cycle comes to a close in a few months.

The spectator who hit Mathieu van der Poel with a water bottle during last week’s Paris-Roubaix said he had too much to drink, he’s really sorry and ashamed, and will take full legal responsibility.

 

Finally…

There may be hope for people who hate presta valves. If at first you do succeed in stealing an ebike from a department store, don’t try, try again.

And if your ex has a new boyfriend, don’t ride your bike over to shoot him. Or maybe don’t shoot him at all, regardless of how you get there.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Walk ‘n Rollers hosts bicycle safety workshop and pizza party, and “powerful force” for N.M. bike community killed

January 23, 2025 / / Comments Off on Walk ‘n Rollers hosts bicycle safety workshop and pizza party, and “powerful force” for N.M. bike community killed
Day 23 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

It’s our third light bike news day in a row, as some guy in Washington seems to be sucking up all the news space. Which just means I can get to bed that much earlier. 

Although it’s questionable how much sleep I’ll get, as smoke from yet another not-too-distant LA fire infiltrates our apartment once again. 

Today’s photo: apropos of nothing, a bike hanging on a wall of a defunct coffee shop. 

………

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

No bias here. British drivers complain about bikeshare bikes, calling them a “blight” on the sidewalks, but parking cars on said sidewalks appears to be just fine.

A road-raging UK driver will spend the next 18 months behind bars after being convicted for using his car as a weapon by deliberately ramming a bike rider following a punishment pass, then getting out of his car and yelling at the victim as he lay helpless on the street.

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

A 73-yer old Dublin, Ireland woman died of a head injury after she was struck by a man riding a bicycle, while she was putting up political campaign posters last year.

………

Local  

Walk ‘n Rollers is teaming with the YMCA and Culver City to host a free bicycle safety workshop and pizza party this Sunday to “help keep commuters and recreational cyclists safe.”

 

State

Calbike considers a number of policy changes to protect vulnerable road users.

Orange County’s most bike-friendly city just got its first protected bike lane, with a new 1.25-mile curb protected lane to go with Irvine’s 300 miles of painted bike lanes and 100 miles of off-street bikeways.

The Imperial County DA’s office says they’ll be cracking down on riders of ebikes and electric motorcycles for unspecified violations. Which seems like illegal selective enforcement, unless they crack down on violations by other road users to the same degree.

Bad news from Bakersfield, where a 14-year old boy was critically injured by a driver while riding his bicycle against traffic.

A 44-year old Oregon woman pled not guilty to charges including vehicular manslaughter, hit-and-run and DUI for allegedly just driving off after hitting two men riding bicycles in San Luis Obispo, killing an 87-year old Avila Beach man and injuring his 74-year old companion.

Sad news from Walnut Creek, where a woman was killed by a driver while riding her bike Wednesday morning — or rather, by a vehicle, since the story doesn’t even mention that it had a driver until the last paragraph.

A suspect has been arrested in Amarillo, Texas for a deadly hit-and-run that took the life of a 49-year old Tulare County man riding a bicycle last August.

 

National

This is the cost of traffic violence. A man describe as a “powerful pedaling force” for the Albuquerque, New Mexico bicycling community was killed by a driver while riding his bike home after spending the day refurbishing bicycles for children in need; 64-year old Chuck Malagodi, who led bike tours around the world before moving to the city, was just a mile from his home when he was killed, after he had refused a ride from a friend.

I want to be like them when I grow up. Three men in their 70s from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, along with a fourth man in his late 60s, completed a bike-touring trip down the 3,000 mile East Coast Greenway trail.

 

International

Vancouver, British Columbia is shutting down some popular DIY bike trails, arguing that they pose a risk to bike riders and the environment.

A Toronto woman thanks the “stranger angel” who came to her aid after she was seriously injured when one of her tires got stuck in a streetcar track. Although what makes one angel stranger than another is beyond me. 

A London bikeshare provider will now offer ebikes with a basket in front and a child seat in the back — or maybe another adult seat.

A writer for Cycling Weekly celebrates the joys of cafe stops after a long ride — in her case “stinking up” British tea rooms.

The BBC insists that a TV show attacking ebikes and lumping low-speed ped-assist ebikes together illegally modified electric motorbikes was “fair and impartial and clearly not an attack on the e-bike industry,” despite complaints by viewers and a trade association that it was exactly that.

 

Competitive Cycling

Canada is trying to level the playing field by banning time trial bikes in junior cycling events.

Wind tunnel simulations suggest your water bottle may be in the wrong place — as long as you don’t actually use a bicycle, since they didn’t use one in the tests.

 

Finally…

Your next electric scooter could come disguised as a telecom utility box that magically transforms into an ebike. Your old brake levers could be reborn as door handles.

And that feeling when the real sprinters aren’t even in the peloton

https://twitter.com/NBCSCycling/status/1881882165828346210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1881882165828346210%7Ctwgr%5E2517ed17769547aae86b204e10ffde7b36f76ccc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-22-january-2025-312235

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,
« Older Entries  
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee